System and methods for using a remote server to authorize a receiving device that has requested wireless power and to determine whether another receiving device should request wireless power in a wireless power transmission system

ABSTRACT

The embodiments described herein include a transmitter that transmits a power transmission signal (e.g., radio frequency (RF) signal waves) to create a three-dimensional pocket of energy. At least one receiver can be connected to or integrated into electronic devices and receive power from the pocket of energy. A wireless power network may include a plurality of wireless power transmitters each with an embedded wireless power transmitter manager, including a wireless power manager application. The wireless power network may include a plurality of client devices with wireless power receivers. Wireless power receivers may include a power receiver application configured to communicate with the wireless power manager application. The wireless power manager application may include a device database where information about the wireless power network may be stored.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Non-Provisionalpatent application Ser. No. 14/337,002, filed Jul. 21, 2014, entitled“Systems and Methods for Communication with Remote Management Systems,”which is herein fully incorporated by reference in its entirety.

This application relates to U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser.No. 13/891,430, filed May 10, 2013, entitled “Methodology ForPocket-forming;” U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No.13/925,469, filed Jun. 24, 2013, entitled “Methodology for MultiplePocket-Forming;” U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No.13/946,082, filed Jul. 19, 2013, entitled “Method for 3 DimensionalPocket-forming;” U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No.13/891,399, filed May 10, 2013, entitled “Receivers for Wireless PowerTransmission;” U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No.13/891,445, filed May 10, 2013, entitled “Transmitters for WirelessPower Transmission;” U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No.14/465,532, filed Aug. 21, 2014, entitled “Systems and Methods forTracking the Status and Usage Information of a Wireless PowerTransmission System,” U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No.14/286,129, filed May 23, 2014, entitled “System & Method for aSelf-System Analysis in a Wireless Power Transmission Network,” U.S.Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 14/272,039, filed May 7,2014, entitled “Systems and Method For Wireless Transmission of Power,”U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 14/272,066, filed May7, 2014, entitled “Systems and Methods for Managing and Controlling aWireless Power Network,” U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser.No. 14/272,124, filed May 7, 2014, entitled “System and Method forControlling Communication Between Wireless Power Transmitter Managers;”U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 14/583,625, filed Dec.27, 2014, entitled “Receivers for Wireless Power Transmission,” U.S.Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 14/583,630, filed Dec. 27,2014, entitled “Methodology for Pocket-Forming,” U.S. Non-Provisionalpatent application Ser. No. 14/583,634, filed Dec. 27, 2014, entitled“Transmitters for Wireless Power Transmission,” U.S. Non-Provisionalpatent application Ser. No. 14/583,640, filed Dec. 27, 2014, entitled“Methodology for Multiple Pocket-Forming,” U.S. Non-Provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 14/583,641, filed Dec. 27, 2014, entitled “WirelessPower Transmission with Selective Range,” U.S. Non-Provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 14/583,643, filed Dec. 27, 2014, entitled “Methodfor 3 Dimensional Pocket-Forming,” all of which are incorporated hereinby reference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to wireless power transmission.

BACKGROUND

Portable electronic devices such as smart phones, tablets, notebooks andother electronic devices have become an everyday need in the way wecommunicate and interact with others. The frequent use of these devicesmay require a significant amount of power, which may easily deplete thebatteries attached to these devices. Therefore, a user is frequentlyneeded to plug in the device to a power source, and recharge suchdevice. This may require having to charge electronic equipment at leastonce a day, or in high-demand electronic devices more than once a day.

Such an activity may be tedious and may represent a burden to users. Forexample, a user may be required to carry chargers in case his electronicequipment is lacking power. In addition, users have to find availablepower sources to connect to. Lastly, users must plugin to a wall orother power supply to be able to charge his or her electronic device.However, such an activity may render electronic devices inoperableduring charging.

Current solutions to this problem may include devices havingrechargeable batteries. However, the aforementioned approach requires auser to carry around extra batteries, and also make sure that the extraset of batteries is charged. Solar-powered battery chargers are alsoknown, however, solar cells are expensive, and a large array of solarcells may be required to charge a battery of any significant capacity.Other approaches involve a mat or pad that allows charging of a devicewithout physically connecting a plug of the device to an electricaloutlet, by using electromagnetic signals. In this case, the device stillrequires to be placed in a certain location for a period of time inorder to be charged. Assuming a single source power transmission ofelectro-magnetic (EM) signal, an EM signal gets reduced by a factorproportional to 1/r2 in magnitude over a distance r, in other words, itis attenuated proportional to the square of the distance. Thus, thereceived power at a large distance from the EM transmitter is a smallfraction of the power transmitted. To increase the power of the receivedsignal, the transmission power would have to be boosted. Assuming thatthe transmitted signal has an efficient reception at three centimetersfrom the EM transmitter, receiving the same signal power over a usefuldistance of three meters would entail boosting the transmitted power by10,000 times. Such power transmission is wasteful, as most of the energywould be transmitted and not received by the intended devices, it couldbe hazardous to living tissue, it would most likely interfere with mostelectronic devices in the immediate vicinity, and it may be dissipatedas heat.

In yet another approach such as directional power transmission, it wouldgenerally require knowing the location of the device to be able to pointthe signal in the right direction to enhance the power transmissionefficiency. However, even when the device is located, efficienttransmission is not guaranteed due to reflections and interference ofobjects in the path or vicinity of the receiving device.

Although the use of wireless power transmission may significantly solvethe problem of using wires or pads for charging devices, when a devicefails in the system, the power transfer to an electronic device may beinterrupted. Different causes may exist for a failure, including a lossof power, a failure in the hardware or software of a wireless powertransmitter manager, overload of the wireless power transmitter manager,and malfunction in a wireless power receiver, among others. Constantmonitoring may be needed in the wireless power transmission system toavoid a breakdown in the network. For the foregoing reasons, there is aneed for a system and method for a self-system analysis that may searchproblems in the network and when it detects a problem, makes an analysisand at the same time makes a recommendation for enhancement orcorrection in the system.

SUMMARY

The embodiments described herein include a transmitter that transmits apower transmission signal (e.g., radio frequency (RF) signal waves) tocreate a three-dimensional pocket of energy. At least one receiver canbe connected to or integrated into electronic devices and receive powerfrom the pocket of energy. The transmitter can locate the at least onereceiver in a three-dimensional space using a communication medium(e.g., Bluetooth technology). The transmitter generates a waveform tocreate a pocket of energy around each of the at least one receiver. Thetransmitter uses an algorithm to direct, focus, and control the waveformin three dimensions. The receiver can convert the transmission signals(e.g., RF signals) into electricity for powering an electronic device.Accordingly, the embodiments for wireless power transmission can allowpowering and charging a plurality of electrical devices without wires.

A wireless power network may include wireless power transmitters eachwith an embedded wireless power transmitter manager. The wireless powertransmitter manager may include a wireless power manager application,which may be a software application hosted in a computing device. Thewireless power transmitter manager may include a GUI which may be usedby a user to perform management tasks.

The wireless power network may include a plurality of client deviceswith wireless power receivers built in as part of the device or adaptedexternally. Wireless power receivers may include a power receiverapplication configured to communicate with the power transmitter managerapplication in a wireless power transmitter. The wireless power managerapplication may include a device database where information about thewireless power network may be stored.

In one embodiment, an apparatus for wirelessly providing power,comprises: a wireless power transmitter comprising a power transmittermanager, operatively coupled to the wireless power transmitter, whereinthe power transmitter manager is configured to control powertransmission signals to form three-dimensional pockets of energy forproviding power from the wireless power transmitter to a receiver; acommunication apparatus configured for communicating with a network; anda storage device operatively coupled to the wireless power transmissionmanager, the storage device being configured to store information for adevice associated with the receiver that is registered with the network,and to communicate the information to a cloud.

In another embodiment, a method for wirelessly providing power in anapparatus, comprises: controlling, by a power transmitter manager of awireless power transmitter, to form three-dimensional pockets of energyfor providing power from the wireless power transmitter to a receiver;detecting, by the wireless power transmitter, a fault in at least one ofthe wireless power transmitter and the receiver; and transmitting, by acommunication apparatus of the wireless power transmitter, the detectedfault to a network.

In another embodiment, a system for wirelessly providing power,comprises: a server, communicatively coupled to each of a plurality ofpower sources via a network, wherein each of the power sources isconfigured to detect a fault in at least one of an associated wirelesspower transmitter and an associated receiver, the server beingconfigured to receive at least one detected fault transmitted from theplurality of power sources, process the received detected fault, andprovide a recommendation for correcting the received detected fault;wherein a respective one of the power sources comprises: the at leastone associated wireless power transmitter; a power transmitter manageroperatively coupled to the at least one associated wireless powertransmitter, wherein the power transmitter manager is configured tocontrol power transmission signals to form three-dimensional pockets ofenergy for providing power from the at least one associated wirelesspower transmitter to the associated receiver, and a communicationapparatus configured for communicating with the network.

In a further embodiment, a processor-based system for managing awireless power transmission system comprising at least one powertransmitter, configured to generate pocket-forming energy in threedimensional space to at least one power receiver for charging, theprocessor-based system comprises: a processor; a database operativelycoupled to the processor; and communications, operatively coupled to theprocessor, wherein the communications is operable to communicate with anetwork, wherein the processor is configured to receive system operationdata from the at least one power transmitter via the network, whereinthe system operation data comprises at least one of power transmitterstatus and power transmitter usage.

In another embodiment, A processor-based method for managing a wirelesspower transmission system comprising at least one power transmitter,configured to generate pocket-forming energy in three dimensional spaceto at least one power receiver for charging, the method comprises:configuring communications, operatively coupled to a processor anddatabase, to communicate with a network; and receiving system operationdata from the at least one power transmitter via the communications,wherein the system operation data comprises at least one of powertransmitter status and power transmitter usage.

In a further embodiment, a processor-based system for managing a powersystem comprising at least one power transmitter, configured to generatepocket-forming energy in three dimensional space to at least one powerreceiver for charging, the processor-based system comprising: aprocessor; a database operatively coupled to the processor; andcommunications, operatively coupled to the processor, wherein thecommunications is operable to communicate with a network, that isfurther communicatively coupled to the at least one power transmitterconfigured with a wireless power transmitter manager, wherein theprocessor is configured to receive system operation data from the atleast one power transmitter via the network, wherein the systemoperation data comprises at least one of power transmitter status andpower transmitter usage.

In yet another embodiment, a wireless power transmission managementsystem, comprises: at least one transmitter comprising an antenna array,the transmitter being configured to provide pocket-forming energy inthree-dimensional space via the antenna array to at least one of aplurality of devices, the transmitter being further configured tocommunicate data to a network, wherein the data comprises at least oneof transmitter data and device data; and a remote system manageroperatively coupled to the network, wherein the remote system manager isconfigured to process the data communicated to the network to determinea status of the system.

In a further embodiment, a method for monitoring a wireless powersystem, comprises: providing, by a transmitter, pocket-forming energy inthree-dimensional space to at least one of a plurality of devices,wherein the transmitter is coupled to a respective antenna array; andcommunicating, by the transmitter, data from the transmitter to anetwork, the data comprising at least one of transmitter data and devicedata; wherein the data communicated to the network is processed in aremote system manager, operatively coupled to the network, to determinea status of the wireless power system.

In another embodiment, a wireless power transmission system formonitoring the distribution of pocket-forming energy inthree-dimensional space, comprises: at least one transmitter,comprising: an antenna array, wherein the transmitter is configured toprovide the pocket-forming energy in three-dimensional space via theantenna array to at least one of a plurality of devices, an antennamanager configured to control power and direction angle of the antennaarray, a storage configured to receive and store data comprising atleast one of transmitter data and device data, and communicationsconfigured to communicate the stored data to a network; wherein a remotesystem manager is operatively coupled to the network, the remote systemmanager being configured to receive and process communicated data todetermine a status of the wireless power transmission system and performan action in response to the determined status.

In a further embodiment, a processor-based system for managing awireless power transmission system comprising at least one powertransmitter, configured to generate pocket-forming energy in threedimensional space to at least one power receiver, the processor-basedsystem comprises: a processor; a database operatively coupled to theprocessor; and communications, operatively coupled to the processor,wherein the communications is operable to communicate with a network,wherein the processor is configured to receive system operation datafrom the at least one power transmitter via the network and tocommunicate the system operation data to a cloud, wherein the systemoperation data comprises at least one of power transmitter status, powertransmitter usage, power receiver status, and power receiver usage.

In another embodiment, a processor-based method for managing a wirelesspower transmission system comprising at least one power transmitter,configured to generate pocket-forming energy in three dimensional spaceto at least one power receiver for charging, the method comprises:configuring, by a processor, communications operatively coupled to theprocessor and a database, to communicate with a network; receiving, bythe processor, system operation data from the at least one powertransmitter via the communications, wherein the system operation datacomprises at least one of power transmitter status, power transmitterusage, power receiver status, and power receiver usage; andcommunicating, by the processor, the received system operation data to aclient device for display using a graphical user interface (GUI).

Additional features and advantages of an embodiment will be set forth inthe description which follows, and in part will be apparent from thedescription. The objectives and other advantages of the invention willbe realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out inthe exemplary embodiments in the written description and claims hereofas well as the appended drawings.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and areintended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Non-limiting embodiments of the present disclosure are described by wayof example with reference to the accompanying figures which areschematic and are not intended to be drawn to scale. Unless indicated asrepresenting the background art, the figures represent aspects of thedisclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system overview, according to an exemplaryembodiment.

FIG. 2 illustrates steps of wireless power transmission, according to anexemplary embodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates an architecture for wireless power transmission,according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 4 illustrates components of a system of wireless power transmissionusing pocket-forming procedures, according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 5 illustrates steps of powering a plurality of receiver devices,according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 6A illustrates waveforms for wireless power transmission withselective range, which may get unified in single waveform.

FIG. 6B illustrates waveforms for wireless power transmission withselective range, which may get unified in single waveform.

FIG. 7 illustrates wireless power transmission with selective range,where a plurality of pockets of energy may be generated along variousradii from transmitter.

FIG. 8 illustrates wireless power transmission with selective range,where a plurality of pockets of energy may be generated along variousradii from transmitter.

FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate a diagram of an architecture for wirelesslycharging client computing platform, according to an exemplary embodiment

FIG. 10A illustrates wireless power transmission using multiplepocket-forming, according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 10B illustrates multiple adaptive pocket-forming, according to anexemplary embodiment.

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a wireless power networkincluding a transmitter an wireless receivers.

FIG. 12 shows a sequence diagram of real time communication betweenwireless power transmitters, wireless power receivers, a wireless powermanager UI and a user, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 13 shows a wireless power system using a wireless power transmittermanager, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 14 illustrates a wireless power transmission network, according toan embodiment; and

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of method for self-system analysis in a wirelesspower transmission network, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 16 illustrates a wireless power transmission system architecture,according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of a process to determine the status and usageinformation from a wireless power transmission system, according to anembodiment.

FIG. 18 shows a wireless power transmission system architecture diagram,according an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a shows a wireless power transmission network diagram,according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart of a general status report generation, accordingto an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart of a past status report generation, according toan exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart of a present status report generation, accordingto an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart of a future status report generation, accordingto an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 24 illustrates a wireless power transmission system architecture,according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 25 is a screenshot of a graphical user interface for a wirelesspower transmission management system, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 26 is a screenshot of a graphical user interface for a wirelesspower transmission management system, according to another embodiment.

FIG. 27 is a screenshot of a graphical user interface for a wirelesspower transmission management system, according to a further embodiment.

FIG. 28 is a screenshot of a graphical user interface for a wirelesspower transmission management system, according to yet anotherembodiment.

FIG. 29 is a screenshot of a portable electronic device graphical userinterface for a wireless power transmission management system, accordingto an embodiment.

FIG. 30 is a screenshot of a portable electronic device graphical userinterface for a wireless power transmission management system, accordingto another embodiment.

FIG. 31 is a screenshot of a graphical user interface for a wirelesspower transmission management system, according to another embodiment.

FIG. 32 is a screenshot of a graphical user interface for a wirelesspower transmission management system, according to a further embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure is here described in detail with reference toembodiments illustrated in the drawings, which form a part here. Otherembodiments may be used and/or other changes may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. Theillustrative embodiments described in the detailed description are notmeant to be limiting of the subject matter presented here. Furthermore,the various components and embodiments described herein may be combinedto form additional embodiments not expressly described, withoutdeparting from the spirit or scope of the invention.

Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated inthe drawings, and specific language will be used here to describe thesame. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scopeof the invention is thereby intended. Alterations and furthermodifications of the inventive features illustrated here, and additionalapplications of the principles of the inventions as illustrated here,which would occur to one skilled in the relevant art and havingpossession of this disclosure, are to be considered within the scope ofthe invention.

I. Systems and Methods for Wireless Power Transmissions

A. Components System Embodiment

FIG. 1 shows a system 100 for wireless power transmission by formingpockets of energy 104. The system 100 may comprise transmitters 101,receivers 103, client devices 105, and pocket detectors 107.Transmitters 101 may transmit power transmission signals comprisingpower transmission waves, which may be captured by receivers 103. Thereceivers 103 may comprise antennas, antenna elements, and othercircuitry (detailed later), which may convert the captured waves into auseable source of electrical energy on behalf of client devices 105associated with the receivers 103. In some embodiments, transmitters 101may transmit power transmission signals, made up of power transmissionwaves, in one or more trajectories by manipulating the phase, gain,and/or other waveform features of the power transmission waves, and/orby selecting different transmit antennas. In such embodiments, thetransmitters 101 may manipulate the trajectories of the powertransmission signals so that the underlying power transmission wavesconverge at a location in space, resulting in certain forms ofinterference. One type of interference generated at the convergence ofthe power transmission waves, “constructive interference,” may be afield of energy caused by the convergence of the power transmissionwaves such that they add together and strengthen the energy concentratedat that location—in contrast to adding together in a way to subtractfrom each other and diminish the energy concentrated at that location,which is called “destructive interference”. The accumulation ofsufficient energy at the constructive interference may establish a fieldof energy, or “pocket of energy” 104, which may be harvested by theantennas of a receiver 103, provided the antennas are configured tooperate on the frequency of the power transmission signals. Accordingly,the power transmission waves establish pockets of energy 104 at thelocation in space where the receivers 103 may receive, harvest, andconvert the power transmission waves into useable electrical energy,which may power or charge associated electrical client devices 105.Detectors 107 may be devices comprising a receiver 103 that are capableof producing a notification or alert in response to receiving powertransmission signals. As an example, a user searching for the optimalplacement of a receiver 103 to charge the user's client device 105 mayuse a detector 107 that comprises an LED light 108, which may brightenwhen the detector 107 captures the power transmission signals from asingle beam or a pocket of energy 104.

1. Transmitters

The transmitter 101 may transmit or broadcast power transmission signalsto a receiver 103 associated with a device 105. Although several of theembodiments mentioned below describe the power transmission signals asradio frequency (RF) waves, it should be appreciated that the powertransmission may be physical media that is capable of being propagatedthrough space, and that is capable of being converted into a source ofelectrical energy 103. The transmitter 101 may transmit the powertransmission signals as a single beam directed at the receivers 103. Insome cases, one or more transmitters 101 may transmit a plurality ofpower transmission signals that are propagated in a multiple directionsand may deflect off of physical obstructions (e.g., walls). Theplurality of power transmission signals may converge at a location in athree-dimensional space, forming a pocket of energy 104. Receivers 103within the boundaries of an energy pocket 104 may capture and covert thepower transmission signals into a useable source of energy. Thetransmitter 101 may control pocket-forming based on phase and/orrelative amplitude adjustments of power transmission signals, to formconstructive interference patterns.

Although the exemplary embodiment recites the use of RF wavetransmission techniques, the wireless charging techniques should not belimited to RF wave transmission techniques. Rather, it should beappreciated that possible wireless charging techniques may include anynumber of alternative or additional techniques for transmitting energyto a receiver converting the transmitted energy to electrical power.Non-limiting exemplary transmission techniques for energy that can beconverted by a receiving device into electrical power may include:ultrasound, microwave, resonant and inductive magnetic fields, laserlight, infrared, or other forms of electromagnetic energy. In the caseof ultrasound, for example, one or more transducer elements may bedisposed so as to form a transducer array that transmits ultrasoundwaves toward a receiving device that receives the ultrasound waves andconverts them to electrical power. In the case of resonant or inductivemagnetic fields, magnetic fields are created in a transmitter coil andconverted by a receiver coil into electrical power. In addition,although the exemplary transmitter 101 is shown as a single unitcomprising potentially multiple transmitters (transmit array), both forRF transmission of power and for other power transmission methodsmentioned in this paragraph, the transmit arrays can comprise multipletransmitters that are physically spread around a room rather than beingin a compact regular structure. The transmitter includes an antennaarray where the antennas are used for sending the power transmissionsignal. Each antenna sends power transmission waves where thetransmitter applies a different phase and amplitude to the signaltransmitted from different antennas. Similar to the formation of pocketsof energy, the transmitter can form a phased array of delayed versionsof the signal to be transmitted, then applies different amplitudes tothe delayed versions of the signal, and then sends the signals fromappropriate antennas. For a sinusoidal waveform, such as an RF signal,ultrasound, microwave, or others, delaying the signal is similar toapplying a phase shift to the signal.

2. Pockets of Energy

A pocket of energy 104 may be formed at locations of constructiveinterference patterns of power transmission signals transmitted by thetransmitter 101. The pockets of energy 104 may manifest as athree-dimensional field where energy may be harvested by receivers 103located within the pocket of energy 104. The pocket of energy 104produced by transmitters 101 during pocket-forming may be harvested by areceiver 103, converted to an electrical charge, and then provided toelectronic client device 105 associated with the receiver 103 (e.g.,laptop computer, smartphone, rechargeable battery). In some embodiments,there may be multiple transmitters 101 and/or multiple receivers 103powering various client devices 105. In some embodiments, adaptivepocket-forming may adjust transmission of the power transmission signalsin order to regulate power levels and/or identify movement of thedevices 105.

3. Receivers

A receiver 103 may be used for powering or charging an associated clientdevice 105, which may be an electrical device coupled to or integratedwith the receiver 103. The receiver 103 may receive power transmissionwaves from one or more power transmission signals originating from oneor more transmitters 101. The receiver 103 may receive the powertransmission signals as a single beam produced by the transmitter 101,or the receiver 103 may harvest power transmission waves from a pocketof energy 104, which may be a three-dimensional field in space resultingfrom the convergence of a plurality of power transmission waves producedby one or more transmitters 101. The receiver 103 may comprise an arrayof antennas 112 configured to receive power transmission waves from apower transmission signal and harvest the energy from the powertransmission signals of the single beam or pocket of energy 104. Thereceiver 103 may comprise circuitry that then converts the energy of thepower transmission signals (e.g., the radio frequency electromagneticradiation) to electrical energy. A rectifier of the receiver 103 maytranslate the electrical energy from AC to DC. Other types ofconditioning may be applied, as well. For example, a voltageconditioning circuit may increase or decrease the voltage of theelectrical energy as required by the client device 105. An electricalrelay may then convey the electrical energy from the receiver 103 to theclient device 105.

In some embodiments, the receiver 103 may comprise a communicationscomponent that transmits control signals to the transmitter 101 in orderto exchange data in real-time or near real-time. The control signals maycontain status information about the client device 105, the receiver103, or the power transmission signals. Status information may include,for example, present location information of the device 105, amount ofcharge received, amount of charged used, and user account information,among other types of information. Further, in some applications, thereceiver 103 including the rectifier that it contains may be integratedinto the client device 105. For practical purposes, the receiver 103,wire 111, and client device 105 may be a single unit contained in asingle packaging.

4. Control Signals

In some embodiments, control signals may serve as data inputs used bythe various antenna elements responsible for controlling production ofpower transmission signals and/or pocket-forming. Control signals may beproduced by the receiver 103 or the transmitter 101 using an externalpower supply (not shown) and a local oscillator chip (not shown), whichin some cases may include using a piezoelectric material. Controlsignals may be RF waves or any other communication medium or protocolcapable of communicating data between processors, such as Bluetooth®,RFID, infrared, near-field communication (NFC). As detailed later,control signals may be used to convey information between thetransmitter 101 and the receiver 103 used to adjust the powertransmission signals, as well as contain information related to status,efficiency, user data, power consumption, billing, geo-location, andother types of information.

5. Detectors

A detector 107 may comprise hardware similar to receivers 103, which mayallow the detector 107 to receive power transmission signals originatingfrom one or more transmitters 101. The detector 107 may be used by usersto identify the location of pockets of energy 104, so that users maydetermine the preferable placement of a receiver 103. In someembodiments, the detector 107 may comprise an indicator light 108 thatindicates when the detector is placed within the pocket of energy 104.As an example, in FIG. 1, detectors 107 a, 107 b are located within thepocket of energy 104 generated by the transmitter 101, which may triggerthe detectors 107 a, 107 b to turn on their respective indicator lights108 a, 108 b, because the detectors 107 a, 107 b are receiving powertransmission signals of the pocket of energy 104; whereas, the indicatorlight 108 c of a third detector 107 c located outside of the pockets ofenergy 104, is turned off, because the third detector 107 c is notreceiving the power transmission signals from the transmitter 101. Itshould be appreciated that the functions of a detector, such as theindicator light, may be integrated into a receiver or into a clientdevice in alternative embodiments as well.

6. Client Device

A client device 105 may be any electrical device that requirescontinuous electrical energy or that requires power from a battery.Non-limiting examples of client devices 105 may include laptops, mobilephones, smartphones, tablets, music players, toys, batteries,flashlights, lamps, electronic watches, cameras, gaming consoles,appliances, GPS devices, and wearable devices or so-called “wearables”(e.g., fitness bracelets, pedometers, smartwatch), among other types ofelectrical devices.

In some embodiments, the client device 105 a may be a physical devicedistinct from the receiver 103 a associated with the client device 105a. In such embodiments, the client device 105 a may be connected to thereceiver over a wire 111 that conveys converted electrical energy fromthe receiver 103 a to the client device 105 a. In some cases, othertypes of data may be transported over the wire 111, such as powerconsumption status, power usage metrics, device identifiers, and othertypes of data.

In some embodiments, the client device 105 b may be permanentlyintegrated or detachably coupled to the receiver 103 b, thereby forminga single integrated product or unit. As an example, the client device105 b may be placed into a sleeve that has embedded receivers 103 b andthat may detachably couple to the device's 105 b power supply input,which may be typically used to charge the device's 105 b battery. Inthis example, the device 105 b may be decoupled from the receiver, butmay remain in the sleeve regardless of whether or not the device 105 brequires an electrical charge or is being used. In another example, inlieu of having a battery that holds a charge for the device 105 b, thedevice 105 b may comprise an integrated receiver 105 b, which may bepermanently integrated into the device 105 b so as to form an indistinctproduct, device, or unit. In this example, the device 105 b may relyalmost entirely on the integrated receiver 103 b to produce electricalenergy by harvesting pockets of energy 104. It should be clear tosomeone skilled in the art that the connection between the receiver 103and the client device 105 may be a wire 111 or may be an electricalconnection on a circuit board or an integrated circuit, or even awireless connection, such as inductive or magnetic.

B. Method of Wireless Power Transmission

FIG. 2 shows steps of wireless power transmission, according to anexemplary method 200 embodiment.

In a first step 201, a transmitter (TX) establishes a connection orotherwise associates with a receiver (RX). That is, in some embodiments,transmitters and receivers may communicate control data over using awireless communication protocol capable of transmitting informationbetween two processors of electrical devices (e.g., Bluetooth®,Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Wi-Fi, NFC, ZigBee®). For example, inembodiments implementing Bluetooth® or Bluetooth® variants, thetransmitter may scan for receiver's broadcasting advertisement signalsor a receiver may transmit an advertisement signal to the transmitter.The advertisement signal may announce the receiver's presence to thetransmitter, and may trigger an association between the transmitter andthe receiver. As described herein, in some embodiments, theadvertisement signal may communicate information that may be used byvarious devices (e.g., transmitters, client devices, sever computers,other receivers) to execute and manage pocket-forming procedures.Information contained within the advertisement signal may include adevice identifier (e.g., MAC address, IP address, UUID), the voltage ofelectrical energy received, client device power consumption, and othertypes of data related to power transmission. The transmitter may use theadvertisement signal transmitted to identify the receiver and, in somecases, locate the receiver in a two-dimensional space or in athree-dimensional space. Once the transmitter identifies the receiver,the transmitter may establish the connection associated in thetransmitter with the receiver, allowing the transmitter and receiver tocommunicate control signals over a second channel.

In a next step 203, the transmitter may use the advertisement signal todetermine a set of power transmission signal features for transmittingthe power transmission signals, to then establish the pockets of energy.Non-limiting examples of features of power transmission signals mayinclude phase, gain, amplitude, magnitude, and direction among others.The transmitter may use information contained in the receiver'sadvertisement signal, or in subsequent control signals received from thereceiver, to determine how to produce and transmit the powertransmission signals so that the receiver may receive the powertransmission signals. In some cases, the transmitter may transmit powertransmission signals in a way that establishes a pocket of energy, fromwhich the receiver may harvest electrical energy. In some embodiments,the transmitter may comprise a processor executing software modulescapable of automatically identifying the power transmission signalfeatures needed to establish a pocket of energy based on informationreceived from the receiver, such as the voltage of the electrical energyharvested by the receiver from the power transmission signals. It shouldbe appreciated that in some embodiments, the functions of the processorand/or the software modules may be implemented in an ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit (ASIC).

Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, the advertisementsignal or subsequent signal transmitted by the receiver over a secondcommunications channel may indicate one or more power transmissionsignals features, which the transmitter may then use to produce andtransmit power transmission signals to establish a pocket of energy. Forexample, in some cases the transmitter may automatically identify thephase and gain necessary for transmitting the power transmission signalsbased on the location of the device and the type of device or receiver;and, in some cases, the receiver may inform the transmitter the phaseand gain for effectively transmitting the power transmission signals.

In a next step 205, after the transmitter determines the appropriatefeatures to use when transmitting the power transmission signals, thetransmitter may begin transmitting power transmission signals, over aseparate channel from the control signals. Power transmission signalsmay be transmitted to establish a pocket of energy. The transmitter'santenna elements may transmit the power transmission signals such thatthe power transmission signals converge in a two-dimensional orthree-dimensional space around the receiver. The resulting field aroundthe receiver forms a pocket of energy from which the receiver mayharvest electrical energy. One antenna element may be used to transmitpower transmission signals to establish two-dimensional energytransmissions; and in some cases, a second or additional antenna elementmay be used to transmit power transmission signals in order to establisha three-dimensional pocket of energy. In some cases, a plurality ofantenna elements may be used to transmit power transmission signals inorder to establish the pocket of energy. Moreover, in some cases, theplurality of antennas may include all of the antennas in thetransmitter; and, in some cases, the plurality of antennas may include anumber of the antennas in the transmitter, but fewer than all of theantennas of the transmitter.

As previously mentioned, the transmitter may produce and transmit powertransmission signals, according to a determined set of powertransmission signal features, which may be produced and transmittedusing an external power source and a local oscillator chip comprising apiezoelectric material. The transmitter may comprise an RFIC thatcontrols production and transmission of the power transmission signalsbased on information related to power transmission and pocket-formingreceived from the receiver. This control data may be communicated over adifferent channel from the power transmission signals, using wirelesscommunications protocols, such as BLE, NFC, or ZigBee®. The RFIC of thetransmitter may automatically adjust the phase and/or relativemagnitudes of the power transmission signals as needed. Pocket-formingis accomplished by the transmitter transmitting the power transmissionsignals in a manner that forms constructive interference patterns.

Antenna elements of the transmitter may use concepts of waveinterference to determine certain power transmission signals features(e.g., direction of transmission, phase of power transmission signalwave), when transmitting the power transmission signals duringpocket-forming. The antenna elements may also use concepts ofconstructive interference to generate a pocket of energy, but may alsoutilize concepts of deconstructive interference to generate atransmission null in a particular physical location.

In some embodiments, the transmitter may provide power to a plurality ofreceivers using pocket-forming, which may require the transmitter toexecute a procedure for multiple pocket-forming. A transmittercomprising a plurality of antenna elements may accomplish multiplepocket-forming by automatically computing the phase and gain of powertransmission signal waves, for each antenna element of the transmittertasked with transmitting power transmission signals the respectivereceivers. The transmitter may compute the phase and gainsindependently, because multiple wave paths for each power transmissionsignal may be generated by the transmitter's antenna elements totransmit the power transmission signals to the respective antennaelements of the receiver.

As an example of the computation of phase/gain adjustments for twoantenna elements of the transmitter transmitting two signals, say X andY where Y is 180 degree phase shifted version of X (Y=−X). At a physicallocation where the cumulative received waveform is X−Y, a receiverreceives X−Y=X+X=2X, whereas at a physical location where the cumulativereceived waveform is X+Y, a receiver receives X+Y=X−X=0.

In a next step 207, the receiver may harvest or otherwise receiveelectrical energy from power transmission signals of a single beam or apocket of energy. The receiver may comprise a rectifier and AC/DCconverter, which may convert the electrical energy from AC current to DCcurrent, and a rectifier of the receiver may then rectify the electricalenergy, resulting in useable electrical energy for a client deviceassociated with the receiver, such as a laptop computer, smartphone,battery, toy, or other electrical device. The receiver may utilize thepocket of energy produced by the transmitter during pocket-forming tocharge or otherwise power the electronic device.

In next step 209, the receiver may generate control data containinginformation indicating the effectiveness of the single beam or energypockets providing the receiver power transmission signals. The receivermay then transmit control signals containing the control data, to thetransmitter. The control signals may be transmitted intermittently,depending on whether the transmitter and receiver are communicatingsynchronously (i.e., the transmitter is expecting to receive controldata from the receiver). Additionally, the transmitter may continuouslytransmit the power transmission signals to the receiver, irrespective ofwhether the transmitter and receiver are communicating control signals.The control data may contain information related to transmitting powertransmission signals and/or establishing effective pockets of energy.Some of the information in the control data may inform the transmitterhow to effectively produce and transmit, and in some cases adjust, thefeatures of the power transmission signals. Control signals may betransmitted and received over a second channel, independent from thepower transmission signals, using a wireless protocol capable oftransmitting control data related to power transmission signals and/orpocket-forming, such as BLE, NFC, Wi-Fi, or the like.

As mentioned, the control data may contain information indicating theeffectiveness of the power transmission signals of the single beam orestablishing the pocket of energy. The control data may be generated bya processor of the receiver monitoring various aspects of receiverand/or the client device associated with the receiver. The control datamay be based on various types of information, such as the voltage ofelectrical energy received from the power transmission signals, thequality of the power transmission signals reception, the quality of thebattery charge or quality of the power reception, and location or motionof the receiver, among other types of information useful for adjustingthe power transmission signals and/or pocket-forming.

In some embodiments, a receiver may determine the amount of power beingreceived from power transmission signals transmitted from thetransmitter and may then indicate that the transmitter should “split” orsegment the power transmission signals into less-powerful powertransmission signals. The less-powerful power transmission signals maybe bounced off objects or walls nearby the device, thereby reducing theamount of power being transmitted directly from the transmitter to thereceiver.

In a next step 211, the transmitter may calibrate the antennastransmitting the power transmission signals, so that the antennastransmit power transmission signals having a more effective set offeature (e.g., direction, phase, gain, amplitude). In some embodiments,a processor of the transmitter may automatically determine moreeffective features for producing and transmitting the power transmissionsignals based on a control signal received from the receiver. Thecontrol signal may contain control data, and may be transmitted by thereceiver using any number of wireless communication protocols (e.g.,BLE, Wi-Fi, ZigBee®). The control data may contain information expresslyindicating the more effective features for the power transmission waves;or the transmitter may automatically determine the more effectivefeatures based on the waveform features of the control signal (e.g.,shape, frequency, amplitude). The transmitter may then automaticallyreconfigure the antennas to transmit recalibrated power transmissionsignals according to the newly determined more-effective features. Forexample, the processor of the transmitter may adjust gain and/or phaseof the power transmission signals, among other features of powertransmission feature, to adjust for a change in location of thereceiver, after a user moved the receiver outside of thethree-dimensional space where the pocket of energy is established.

C. System Architecture of Power Transmission System

FIG. 3 illustrates an architecture 300 for wireless power transmissionusing pocket-forming, according to an exemplary embodiment.“Pocket-forming” may refer to generating two or more power transmissionwaves 342 that converge at a location in three-dimensional space,resulting in constructive interference patterns at that location. Atransmitter 302 may transmit and/or broadcast controlled powertransmission waves 342 (e.g., microwaves, radio waves, ultrasound waves)that may converge in three-dimensional space. These power transmissionwaves 342 may be controlled through phase and/or relative amplitudeadjustments to form constructive interference patterns (pocket-forming)in locations where a pocket of energy is intended. It should beunderstood also that the transmitter can use the same principles tocreate destructive interference in a location thereby creating atransmission null—a location where transmitted power transmission wavescancel each other out substantially and no significant energy can becollected by a receiver. In typical use cases the aiming of a powertransmission signal at the location of the receiver is the objective;and in other cases it may be desirable to specifically avoid powertransmission to a particular location; and in other cases it may bedesirable to aim power transmission signal at a location whilespecifically avoiding transmission to a second location at the sametime. The transmitter takes the use case into account when calibratingantennas for power transmission.

Antenna elements 306 of the transmitter 302 may operate in single array,pair array, quad array, or any other suitable arrangement that may bedesigned in accordance with the desired application. Pockets of energymay be formed at constructive interference patterns where the powertransmission waves 342 accumulate to form a three-dimensional field ofenergy, around which one or more corresponding transmission null in aparticular physical location may be generated by destructiveinterference patterns. Transmission null in a particular physicallocation-may refer to areas or regions of space where pockets of energydo not form because of destructive interference patterns of powertransmission waves 342.

A receiver 320 may then utilize power transmission waves 342 emitted bythe transmitter 302 to establish a pocket of energy, for charging orpowering an electronic device 313, thus effectively providing wirelesspower transmission. Pockets of energy may refer to areas or regions ofspace where energy or power may accumulate in the form of constructiveinterference patterns of power transmission waves 342. In othersituations there can be multiple transmitters 302 and/or multiplereceivers 320 for powering various electronic equipment for examplesmartphones, tablets, music players, toys and others at the same time.In other embodiments, adaptive pocket-forming may be used to regulatepower on electronic devices. Adaptive pocket-forming may refer todynamically adjusting pocket-forming to regulate power on one or moretargeted receivers.

Receiver 320 may communicate with transmitter 302 by generating a shortsignal through antenna elements 324 in order to indicate its positionwith respect to the transmitter 302. In some embodiments, receiver 320may additionally utilize a network interface card (not shown) or similarcomputer networking component to communicate through a network 340 withother devices or components of the system 300, such as a cloud computingservice that manages several collections of transmitters 302. Thereceiver 320 may comprise circuitry 308 for converting the powertransmission signals 342 captured by the antenna elements 324, intoelectrical energy that may be provided to and electric device 313 and/ora battery of the device 315. In some embodiments, the circuitry mayprovide electrical energy to a battery of receiver 335, which may storeenergy without the electrical device 313 being communicatively coupledto the receiver 320.

Communications components 324 may enable receiver 320 to communicatewith the transmitter 302 by transmitting control signals 345 over awireless protocol. The wireless protocol can be a proprietary protocolor use a conventional wireless protocol, such as Bluetooth®, BLE, Wi-Fi,NFC, ZigBee, and the like. Communications component 324 may then be usedto transfer information, such as an identifier for the electronic device313, as well as battery level information, geographic location data, orother information that may be of use for transmitter 302 in determiningwhen to send power to receiver 320, as well as the location to deliverpower transmission waves 342 creating pockets of energy. In otherembodiments, adaptive pocket-forming may be used to regulate powerprovided to electronic devices 313. In such embodiments, thecommunications components 324 of the receiver may transmit voltage dataindicating the amount of power received at the receiver 320, and/or theamount of voltage provided to an electronic device 313 b or battery 315.

Once transmitter 302 identifies and locates receiver 320, a channel orpath for the control signals 345 can be established, through which thetransmitter 302 may know the gain and phases of the control signals 345coming from receiver 320. Antenna elements 306 of the transmitter 302may start to transmit or broadcast controlled power transmission waves342 (e.g., radio frequency waves, ultrasound waves), which may convergein three-dimensional space by using at least two antenna elements 306 tomanipulate the power transmission waves 342 emitted from the respectiveantenna element 306. These power transmission waves 342 may be producedby using an external power source and a local oscillator chip using asuitable piezoelectric material. The power transmission waves 342 may becontrolled by transmitter circuitry 301, which may include a proprietarychip for adjusting phase and/or relative magnitudes of powertransmission waves 342. The phase, gain, amplitude, and other waveformfeatures of the power transmission waves 342 may serve as inputs forantenna element 306 to form constructive and destructive interferencepatterns (pocket-forming). In some implementations, a micro-controller310 or other circuit of the transmitter 302 may produce a powertransmission signal, which comprises power transmission waves 342, andthat may be may split into multiple outputs by transmitter circuitry301, depending on the number of antenna elements 306 connected to thetransmitter circuitry 301. For example, if four antenna elements 306 a-dare connected to one transmitter circuit 301 a, the power transmissionsignal will be split into four different outputs each output going to anantenna element 306 to be transmitted as power transmission waves 342originating from the respective antenna elements 306.

Pocket-forming may take advantage of interference to change thedirectionality of the antenna element 306 where constructiveinterference generates a pocket of energy and destructive interferencegenerates a transmission null. Receiver 320 may then utilize pocket ofenergy produced by pocket-forming for charging or powering an electronicdevice and therefore effectively providing wireless power transmission.

Multiple pocket-forming may be achieved by computing the phase and gainfrom each antenna 306 of transmitter 302 to each receiver 320.

D. Components of Systems Forming Pockets of Energy

FIG. 4 shows components of an exemplary system 400 of wireless powertransmission using pocket-forming procedures. The system 400 maycomprise one or more transmitters 402, one or more receivers 420, andone or more client devices 446.

1. Transmitters

Transmitters 402 may be any device capable of broadcasting wirelesspower transmission signals, which may be RF waves 442, for wirelesspower transmission, as described herein. Transmitters 402 may beresponsible for performing tasks related to transmitting powertransmission signals, which may include pocket-forming, adaptivepocket-forming, and multiple pocket-forming. In some implementations,transmitters 402 may transmit wireless power transmissions to receivers420 in the form of RF waves, which may include any radio signal havingany frequency or wavelength. A transmitter 402 may include one or moreantenna elements 406, one or more RFICs 408, one or moremicrocontrollers 410, one or more communication components 412, a powersource 414, and a housing that may allocate all the requested componentsfor the transmitter 402. The various components of transmitters 402 maycomprise, and/or may be manufactured using, meta-materials,micro-printing of circuits, nano-materials, and the like.

In the exemplary system 400, the transmitter 402 may transmit orotherwise broadcast controlled RF waves 442 that converge at a locationin three-dimensional space, thereby forming a pocket of energy 444.These RF waves may be controlled through phase and/or relative amplitudeadjustments to form constructive or destructive interference patterns(i.e., pocket-forming). Pockets of energy 444 may be fields formed atconstructive interference patterns and may be three-dimensional inshape; whereas transmission null in a particular physical location maybe generated at destructive interference patterns. Receivers 420 mayharvest electrical energy from the pockets of energy 444 produced bypocket-forming for charging or powering an electronic client device 446(e.g., a laptop computer, a cell phone). In some embodiments, the system400 may comprise multiple transmitters 402 and/or multiple receivers420, for powering various electronic equipment. Non-limiting examples ofclient devices 446 may include: smartphones, tablets, music players,toys and others at the same time. In some embodiments, adaptivepocket-forming may be used to regulate power on electronic devices.

2. Receivers

Receivers 420 may include a housing where at least one antenna element424, one rectifier 426, one power converter 428, and a communicationscomponent 430 may be included.

Housing of the receiver 420 can be made of any material capable offacilitating signal or wave transmission and/or reception, for exampleplastic or hard rubber. Housing may be an external hardware that may beadded to different electronic equipment, for example in the form ofcases, or can be embedded within electronic equipment as well.

3. Antenna Elements

Antenna elements 424 of the receiver 420 may comprise any type ofantenna capable of transmitting and/or receiving signals in frequencybands used by the transmitter 402A. Antenna elements 424 may includevertical or horizontal polarization, right hand or left handpolarization, elliptical polarization, or other polarizations, as wellas any number of polarization combinations. Using multiple polarizationscan be beneficial in devices where there may not be a preferredorientation during usage or whose orientation may vary continuouslythrough time, for example a smartphone or portable gaming system. Fordevices having a well-defined expected orientation (e.g., a two-handedvideo game controller), there might be a preferred polarization forantennas, which may dictate a ratio for the number of antennas of agiven polarization. Types of antennas in antenna elements 424 of thereceiver 420, may include patch antennas, which may have heights fromabout ⅛ inch to about 6 inches and widths from about ⅛ inch to about 6inches. Patch antennas may preferably have polarization that dependsupon connectivity, i.e., the polarization may vary depending on fromwhich side the patch is fed. In some embodiments, the type of antennamay be any type of antenna, such as patch antennas, capable ofdynamically varying the antenna polarization to optimize wireless powertransmission.

4. Rectifier

Rectifiers 426 of the receiver 420 may include diodes, resistors,inductors, and/or capacitors to rectify alternating current (AC) voltagegenerated by antenna elements 424 to direct current (DC) voltage.Rectifiers 426 may be placed as close as is technically possible toantenna elements A24B to minimize losses in electrical energy gatheredfrom power transmission signals. After rectifying AC voltage, theresulting DC voltage may be regulated using power converters 428. Powerconverters 428 can be a DC-to-DC converter that may help provide aconstant voltage output, regardless of input, to an electronic device,or as in this exemplary system 400, to a battery. Typical voltageoutputs can be from about 5 volts to about 10 volts. In someembodiments, power converter may include electronic switched mode DC-DCconverters, which can provide high efficiency. In such embodiments, thereceiver 420 may comprise a capacitor (not shown) that is situated toreceive the electrical energy before power converters 428. The capacitormay ensure sufficient current is provided to an electronic switchingdevice (e.g., switch mode DC-DC converter), so it may operateeffectively. When charging an electronic device, for example a phone orlaptop computer, initial high-currents that can exceed the minimumvoltage needed to activate operation of an electronic switched modeDC-DC converter, may be required. In such a case, a capacitor (notshown) may be added at the output of receivers 420 to provide the extraenergy required. Afterwards, lower power can be provided. For example,1/80 of the total initial power that may be used while having the phoneor laptop still build-up charge.

5. Communications Component

A communications component 430 of a receiver 420 may communicate withone or more other devices of the system 400, such as other receivers420, client devices, and/or transmitters 402. Different antenna,rectifier or power converter arrangements are possible for a receiver aswill be explained in following embodiments.

E. Methods of Pocket Forming for a Plurality of Devices

FIG. 5 shows steps of powering a plurality of receiver devices,according to an exemplary embodiment.

In a first step 501, a transmitter (TX) establishes a connection orotherwise associates with a receiver (RX). That is, in some embodiments,transmitters and receivers may communicate control data over using awireless communication protocol capable of transmitting informationbetween two processors of electrical devices (e.g., Bluetooth®, BLE,Wi-Fi, NFC, ZigBee®). For example, in embodiments implement Bluetooth®or Bluetooth® variants, the transmitter may scan for receiver'sbroadcasting advertisement signals or a receiver may transmit anadvertisement signal to the transmitter. The advertisement signal mayannounce the receiver's presence to the transmitter, and may trigger anassociation between the transmitter and the receiver. As describedlater, in some embodiments, the advertisement signal may communicateinformation that may be used by various devices (e.g., transmitters,client devices, sever computers, other receivers) to execute and managepocket-forming procedures. Information contained within theadvertisement signal may include a device identifier (e.g., MAC address,IP address, UUID), the voltage of electrical energy received, clientdevice power consumption, and other types of data related to powertransmission waves. The transmitter may use the advertisement signaltransmitted to identify the receiver and, in some cases, locate thereceiver in a two-dimensional space or in a three-dimensional space.Once the transmitter identifies the receiver, the transmitter mayestablish the connection associated in the transmitter with thereceiver, allowing the transmitter and receiver to communicate controlsignals over a second channel.

As an example, when a receiver comprising a Bluetooth® processor ispowered-up or is brought within a detection range of the transmitter,the Bluetooth processor may begin advertising the receiver according toBluetooth® standards. The transmitter may recognize the advertisementand begin establishing connection for communicating control signals andpower transmission signals. In some embodiments, the advertisementsignal may contain unique identifiers so that the transmitter maydistinguish that advertisement and ultimately that receiver from all theother Bluetooth® devices nearby within range.

In a next step 503, when the transmitter detects the advertisementsignal, the transmitter may automatically form a communicationconnection with that receiver, which may allow the transmitter andreceiver to communicate control signals and power transmission signals.The transmitter may then command that receiver to begin transmittingreal-time sample data or control data. The transmitter may also begintransmitting power transmission signals from antennas of thetransmitter's antenna array.

In a next step 505, the receiver may then measure the voltage, amongother metrics related to effectiveness of the power transmissionsignals, based on the electrical energy received by the receiver'santennas. The receiver may generate control data containing the measuredinformation, and then transmit control signals containing the controldata to the transmitter. For example, the receiver may sample thevoltage measurements of received electrical energy, for example, at arate of 100 times per second. The receiver may transmit the voltagesample measurement back to the transmitter, 100 times a second, in theform of control signals.

In a next step 507, the transmitter may execute one or more softwaremodules monitoring the metrics, such as voltage measurements, receivedfrom the receiver. Algorithms may vary production and transmission ofpower transmission signals by the transmitter's antennas, to maximizethe effectiveness of the pockets of energy around the receiver. Forexample, the transmitter may adjust the phase at which the transmitter'santenna transmit the power transmission signals, until that powerreceived by the receiver indicates an effectively established pocketenergy around the receiver. When an optimal configuration for theantennas is identified, memory of the transmitter may store theconfigurations to keep the transmitter broadcasting at that highestlevel.

In a next step 509, algorithms of the transmitter may determine when itis necessary to adjust the power transmission signals and may also varythe configuration of the transmit antennas, in response to determiningsuch adjustments are necessary. For example, the transmitter maydetermine the power received at a receiver is less than maximal, basedon the data received from the receiver. The transmitter may thenautomatically adjust the phase of the power transmission signals, butmay also simultaneously continues to receive and monitor the voltagebeing reported back from receiver.

In a next step 511, after a determined period of time for communicatingwith a particular receiver, the transmitter may scan and/orautomatically detect advertisements from other receivers that may be inrange of the transmitter. The transmitters may establish a connection tothe second receiver responsive to Bluetooth® advertisements from asecond receiver.

In a next step 513, after establishing a second communication connectionwith the second receiver, the transmitter may proceed to adjust one ormore antennas in the transmitter's antenna array. In some embodiments,the transmitter may identify a subset of antennas to service the secondreceiver, thereby parsing the array into subsets of arrays that areassociated with a receiver. In some embodiments, the entire antennaarray may service a first receiver for a given period of time, and thenthe entire array may service the second receiver for that period oftime.

Manual or automated processes performed by the transmitter may select asubset of arrays to service the second receiver. In this example, thetransmitter's array may be split in half, forming two subsets. As aresult, half of the antennas may be configured to transmit powertransmission signals to the first receiver, and half of the antennas maybe configured for the second receiver. In the current step 513, thetransmitter may apply similar techniques discussed above to configure oroptimize the subset of antennas for the second receiver. While selectinga subset of an array for transmitting power transmission signals, thetransmitter and second receiver may be communicating control data. As aresult, by the time that the transmitter alternates back tocommunicating with the first receiver and/or scan for new receivers, thetransmitter has already received a sufficient amount of sample data toadjust the phases of the waves transmitted by second subset of thetransmitter's antenna array, to transmit power transmission waves to thesecond receiver effectively.

In a next step 515, after adjusting the second subset to transmit powertransmission signals to the second receiver, the transmitter mayalternate back to communicating control data with the first receiver, orscanning for additional receivers. The transmitter may reconfigure theantennas of the first subset, and then alternate between the first andsecond receivers at a predetermined interval.

In a next step 517, the transmitter may continue to alternate betweenreceivers and scanning for new receivers, at a predetermined interval.As each new receiver is detected, the transmitter may establish aconnection and begin transmitting power transmission signals,accordingly.

In one exemplary embodiment, the receiver may be electrically connectedto a device like a smart phone. The transmitter's processor would scanfor any Bluetooth devices. The receiver may begin advertising that it'sa Bluetooth device through the Bluetooth chip. Inside the advertisement,there may be unique identifiers so that the transmitter, when it scannedthat advertisement, could distinguish that advertisement and ultimatelythat receiver from all the other Bluetooth devices nearby within range.When the transmitter detects that advertisement and notices it is areceiver, then the transmitter may immediately form a communicationconnection with that receiver and command that receiver to begin sendingreal time sample data.

The receiver would then measure the voltage at its receiving antennas,send that voltage sample measurement back to the transmitter (e.g., 100times a second). The transmitter may start to vary the configuration ofthe transmit antennas by adjusting the phase. As the transmitter adjuststhe phase, the transmitter monitors the voltage being sent back from thereceiver. In some implementations, the higher the voltage, the moreenergy may be in the pocket. The antenna phases may be altered until thevoltage is at the highest level and there is a maximum pocket of energyaround the receiver. The transmitter may keep the antennas at theparticular phase so the voltage is at the highest level.

The transmitter may vary each individual antenna, one at a time. Forexample, if there are 32 antennas in the transmitter, and each antennahas 8 phases, the transmitter may begin with the first antenna and wouldstep the first antenna through all 8 phases. The receiver may then sendback the power level for each of the 8 phases of the first antenna. Thetransmitter may then store the highest phase for the first antenna. Thetransmitter may repeat this process for the second antenna, and step itthrough 8 phases. The receiver may again send back the power levels fromeach phase, and the transmitter may store the highest level. Next thetransmitter may repeat the process for the third antenna and continue torepeat the process until all 32 antennas have stepped through the 8phases. At the end of the process, the transmitter may transmit themaximum voltage in the most efficient manner to the receiver.

In another exemplary embodiment, the transmitter may detect a secondreceiver's advertisement and form a communication connection with thesecond receiver. When the transmitter forms the communication with thesecond receiver, the transmitter may aim the original 32 antennastowards the second receiver and repeat the phase process for each of the32 antennas aimed at the second receiver. Once the process is completed,the second receiver may getting as much power as possible from thetransmitter. The transmitter may communicate with the second receiverfor a second, and then alternate back to the first receiver for apredetermined period of time (e.g., a second), and the transmitter maycontinue to alternate back and forth between the first receiver and thesecond receiver at the predetermined time intervals.

In yet another implementation, the transmitter may detect a secondreceiver's advertisement and form a communication connection with thesecond receiver. First, the transmitter may communicate with the firstreceiver and re-assign half of the exemplary 32 the antennas aimed atthe first receiver, dedicating only 16 towards the first receiver. Thetransmitter may then assign the second half of the antennas to thesecond receiver, dedicating 16 antennas to the second receiver. Thetransmitter may adjust the phases for the second half of the antennas.Once the 16 antennas have gone through each of the 8 phases, the secondreceiver may be obtaining the maximum voltage in the most efficientmanner to the receiver.

F. Wireless Power Transmission with Selective Range

1. Constructive Interference

FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B show an exemplary system 600 implementing wirelesspower transmission principles that may be implemented during exemplarypocket-forming processes. A transmitter 601 comprising a plurality ofantennas in an antenna array, may adjust the phase and amplitude, amongother possible attributes, of power transmission waves 607, beingtransmitted from antennas of the transmitter 601. As shown in FIG. 6A,in the absence of any phase or amplitude adjustment, power transmissionwaves 607 a may be transmitted from each of the antennas will arrive atdifferent locations and have different phases. These differences areoften due to the different distances from each antenna element of thetransmitter 601 a to a receiver 605 a or receivers 605 a, located at therespective locations.

Continuing with FIG. 6A, a receiver 605 a may receive multiple powertransmission signals, each comprising power transmission waves 607 a,from multiple antenna elements of a transmitter 601 a; the composite ofthese power transmission signals may be essentially zero, because inthis example, the power transmission waves add together destructively.That is, antenna elements of the transmitter 601 a may transmit theexact same power transmission signal (i.e., comprising powertransmission waves 607 a having the same features, such as phase andamplitude), and as such, when the power transmission waves 607 a of therespective power transmission signals arrive at the receiver 605 a, theyare offset from each other by 180 degrees. Consequently, the powertransmission waves 607 a of these power transmission signals “cancel”one another. Generally, signals offsetting one another in this way maybe referred to as “destructive,” and thus result in “destructiveinterference.”

In contrast, as shown in FIG. 6B, for so-called “constructiveinterference,” signals comprising power transmission waves 607 b thatarrive at the receiver exactly “in phase” with one another, combine toincrease the amplitude of the each signal, resulting in a composite thatis stronger than each of the constituent signals. In the illustrativeexample in FIG. 6A, note that the phase of the power transmission waves607 a in the transmit signals are the same at the location oftransmission, and then eventually add up destructively at the locationof the receiver 605 a. In contrast, in FIG. 6B, the phase of the powertransmission waves 607 b of the transmit signals are adjusted at thelocation of transmission, such that they arrive at the receiver 605 b inphase alignment, and consequently they add constructively. In thisillustrative example, there will be a resulting pocket of energy locatedaround the receiver 605 b in FIG. 6B; and there will be a transmissionnull located around receiver in FIG. 6A.

FIG. 7 depicts wireless power transmission with selective range 700,where a transmitter 702 may produce pocket-forming for a plurality ofreceivers associated with electrical devices 701. Transmitter 702 maygenerate pocket-forming through wireless power transmission withselective range 700, which may include one or more wireless chargingradii 704 and one or more radii of a transmission null at a particularphysical location 706. A plurality of electronic devices 701 may becharged or powered in wireless charging radii 704. Thus, several spotsof energy may be created, such spots may be employed for enablingrestrictions for powering and charging electronic devices 701. As anexample, the restrictions may include operating specific electronics ina specific or limited spot, contained within wireless charging radii704. Furthermore, safety restrictions may be implemented by the use ofwireless power transmission with selective range 700, such safetyrestrictions may avoid pockets of energy over areas or zones whereenergy needs to be avoided, such areas may include areas includingsensitive equipment to pockets of energy and/or people which do not wantpockets of energy over and/or near them. In embodiments such as the oneshown in FIG. 7, the transmitter 702 may comprise antenna elements foundon a different plane than the receivers associated with electricaldevices 701 in the served area. For example the receivers of electricaldevices 701 may be in a room where a transmitter 702 may be mounted onthe ceiling. Selective ranges for establishing pockets of energy usingpower transmission waves, which may be represented as concentric circlesby placing an antenna array of the transmitter 702 on the ceiling orother elevated location, and the transmitter 702 may emit powertransmission waves that will generate ‘cones’ of energy pockets. In someembodiments, the transmitter 701 may control the radius of each chargingradii 704, thereby establishing intervals for service area to createpockets of energy that are pointed down to an area at a lower plane,which may adjust the width of the cone through appropriate selection ofantenna phase and amplitudes.

FIG. 8 depicts wireless power transmission with selective range 800,where a transmitter 802 may produce pocket-forming for a plurality ofreceivers 806. Transmitter 802 may generate pocket-forming throughwireless power transmission with selective range 800, which may includeone or more wireless charging spots 804. A plurality of electronicdevices may be charged or powered in wireless charging spots 804.Pockets of energy may be generated over a plurality of receivers 806regardless the obstacles 804 surrounding them. Pockets of energy may begenerated by creating constructive interference, according to theprinciples described herein, in wireless charging spots 804. Location ofpockets of energy may be performed by tacking receivers 806 and byenabling a plurality of communication protocols by a variety ofcommunication systems such as, Bluetooth® technology, infraredcommunication, Wi-Fi, FM radio, among others.

G. Exemplary System Embodiment Using Heat Maps

FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate a diagram of architecture 900A, 900B for awirelessly charging client computing platform, according to an exemplaryembodiment. In some implementations, a user may be inside a room and mayhold on his hands an electronic device (e.g. a smartphone, tablet). Insome implementations, electronic device may be on furniture inside theroom. The electronic device may include a receiver 920A, 920B eitherembedded to the electronic device or as a separate adapter connected toelectronic device. Receivers 920A, 920B may include all the componentsdescribed in FIG. 11. A transmitter 902A, 902B may be hanging on one ofthe walls of the room right behind user. Transmitters 902A, 902B mayalso include all the components described in FIG. 11.

As user may seem to be obstructing the path between receivers 920A, 920Band transmitters 902A, 902B, RF waves may not be easily aimed to thereceivers 920A, 920B in a linear direction. However, since the shortsignals generated from receivers 920A, 920B may be omni-directional forthe type of antenna element used, these signals may bounce over thewalls 944A, 944B until they reach transmitters 902A, 902B. A hot spot944A, 944B may be any item in the room which will reflect the RF waves.For example, a large metal clock on the wall may be used to reflect theRF waves to a user's cell phone.

A micro controller in the transmitter adjusts the transmitted signalfrom each antenna based on the signal received from the receiver.Adjustment may include forming conjugates of the signal phases receivedfrom the receivers and further adjustment of transmit antenna phasestaking into account the built-in phase of antenna elements. The antennaelement may be controlled simultaneously to steer energy in a givendirection. The transmitter 902A, 902B may scan the room, and look forhot spots 944A, 944B. Once calibration is performed, transmitters 902A,902B may focus RF waves in a channel following a path that may be themost efficient paths. Subsequently, RF signals 942A, 942B may form apocket of energy on a first electronic device and another pocket ofenergy in a second electronic device while avoiding obstacles such asuser and furniture.

When scanning the service area, the room in FIGS. 9A and 9B, thetransmitter 902A, 902B may employ different methods. As an illustrativeexample, but without limiting the possible methods that can be used, thetransmitter 902A, 902B may detect the phases and magnitudes of thesignal coming from the receiver and use those to form the set oftransmit phases and magnitudes, for example by calculating conjugates ofthem and applying them at transmit. As another illustrative example, thetransmitter may apply all possible phases of transmit antennas insubsequent transmissions, one at a time, and detect the strength of thepocket of energy formed by each combination by observing informationrelated to the signal from the receiver 920A, 920B. Then the transmitter902A, 902B repeats this calibration periodically. In someimplementations, the transmitter 902A, 902B does not have to searchthrough all possible phases, and can search through a set of phases thatare more likely to result in strong pockets of energy based on priorcalibration values. In yet another illustrative example, the transmitter902A, 902B may use preset values of transmit phases for the antennas toform pockets of energy directed to different locations in the room. Thetransmitter may for example scan the physical space in the room from topto bottom and left to right by using preset phase values for antennas insubsequent transmissions. The transmitter 902A, 902B then detects thephase values that result in the strongest pocket of energy around thereceiver 920 a, 920 b by observing the signal from the receiver 920 a,920 b. It should be appreciated that there are other possible methodsfor scanning a service area for heat mapping that may be employed,without deviating from the scope or spirit of the embodiments describedherein. The result of a scan, whichever method is used, is a heat-map ofthe service area (e.g., room, store) from which the transmitter 902A,902B may identify the hot spots that indicate the best phase andmagnitude values to use for transmit antennas in order to maximize thepocket of energy around the receiver.

The transmitters 902A, 902B, may use the Bluetooth connection todetermine the location of the receivers 920A, 920B, and may usedifferent non-overlapping parts of the RF band to channel the RF wavesto different receivers 920A, 920B. In some implementations, thetransmitters 902A, 902B, may conduct a scan of the room to determine thelocation of the receivers 920A, 920B and forms pockets of energy thatare orthogonal to each other, by virtue of non-overlapping RFtransmission bands. Using multiple pockets of energy to direct energy toreceivers may inherently be safer than some alternative powertransmission methods since no single transmission is very strong, whilethe aggregate power transmission signal received at the receiver isstrong.

H. Exemplary System Embodiment

FIG. 10A illustrates wireless power transmission using multiplepocket-forming 1000A that may include one transmitter 1002A and at leasttwo or more receivers 1020A. Receivers 1020A may communicate withtransmitters 1002A, which is further described in FIG. 11. Oncetransmitter 1002A identifies and locates receivers 1020A, a channel orpath can be established by knowing the gain and phases coming fromreceivers 1020A. Transmitter 1002A may start to transmit controlled RFwaves 1042A which may converge in three-dimensional space by using aminimum of two antenna elements. These RF waves 1042A may be producedusing an external power source and a local oscillator chip using asuitable piezoelectric material. RF waves 1042A may be controlled byRFIC, which may include a proprietary chip for adjusting phase and/orrelative magnitudes of RF signals that may serve as inputs for antennaelements to form constructive and destructive interference patterns(pocket-forming). Pocket-forming may take advantage of interference tochange the directionality of the antenna elements where constructiveinterference generates a pocket of energy 1060A and deconstructiveinterference generates a transmission null. Receivers 1020A may thenutilize pocket of energy 1060A produced by pocket-forming for chargingor powering an electronic device, for example, a laptop computer 1062Aand a smartphone 1052A and thus effectively providing wireless powertransmission.

Multiple pocket forming 1000A may be achieved by computing the phase andgain from each antenna of transmitter 1002A to each receiver 1020A. Thecomputation may be calculated independently because multiple paths maybe generated by antenna element from transmitter 1002A to antennaelement from receivers 1020A.

I. Exemplary System Embodiment

FIG. 10B is an exemplary illustration of multiple adaptivepocket-forming 1000B. In this embodiment, a user may be inside a roomand may hold on his hands an electronic device, which in this case maybe a tablet 1064B. In addition, smartphone 1052B may be on furnitureinside the room. Tablet 1064B and smartphone 1052B may each include areceiver either embedded to each electronic device or as a separateadapter connected to tablet 1064B and smartphone 1052B. Receiver mayinclude all the components described in FIG. 11. A transmitter 1002B maybe hanging on one of the walls of the room right behind user.Transmitter 1002B may also include all the components described in FIG.11. As user may seem to be obstructing the path between receiver andtransmitter 1002B, RF waves 1042B may not be easily aimed to eachreceiver in a line of sight fashion. However, since the short signalsgenerated from receivers may be omni-directional for the type of antennaelements used, these signals may bounce over the walls until they findtransmitter 1002B. Almost instantly, a micro-controller which may residein transmitter 1002B, may recalibrate the transmitted signals, based onthe received signals sent by each receiver, by adjusting gain and phasesand forming a convergence of the power transmission waves such that theyadd together and strengthen the energy concentrated at that location—incontrast to adding together in a way to subtract from each other anddiminish the energy concentrated at that location, which is called“destructive interference” and conjugates of the signal phases receivedfrom the receivers and further adjustment of transmit antenna phasestaking into account the built-in phase of antenna elements. Oncecalibration is performed, transmitter 1002B may focus RF waves followingthe most efficient paths. Subsequently, a pocket of energy 1060B mayform on tablet 1064B and another pocket of energy 1060B in smartphone1052B while taking into account obstacles such as user and furniture.The foregoing property may be beneficial in that wireless powertransmission using multiple pocket-forming 1000B may inherently be safeas transmission along each pocket of energy is not very strong, and thatRF transmissions generally reflect from living tissue and do notpenetrate.

Once transmitter 1002B identities and locates receiver, a channel orpath can be established by knowing the gain and phases coming fromreceiver. Transmitter 1002B may start to transmit controlled RF waves1042B that may converge in three-dimensional space by using a minimum oftwo antenna elements. These RF waves 1042B may be produced using anexternal power source and a local oscillator chip using a suitablepiezoelectric material. RF waves 1042B may be controlled by RFIC thatmay include a proprietary chip for adjusting phase and/or relativemagnitudes of RF signals, which may serve as inputs for antenna elementsto form constructive and destructive interference patterns(pocket-forming). Pocket-forming may take advantage of interference tochange the directionality of the antenna elements where constructiveinterference generates a pocket of energy and deconstructiveinterference generates a null in a particular physical location.Receiver may then utilize pocket of energy produced by pocket-formingfor charging or powering an electronic device, for example a laptopcomputer and a smartphone and thus effectively providing wireless powertransmission.

Multiple pocket-forming 1000B may be achieved by computing the phase andgain from each antenna of transmitter to each receiver. The computationmay be calculated independently because multiple paths may be generatedby antenna elements from transmitter to antenna elements from receiver.

An example of the computation for at least two antenna elements mayinclude determining the phase of the signal from the receiver andapplying the conjugate of the receive parameters to the antenna elementsfor transmission.

In some embodiments, two or more receivers may operate at differentfrequencies to avoid power losses during wireless power transmission.This may be achieved by including an array of multiple embedded antennaelements in transmitter 1002B. In one embodiment, a single frequency maybe transmitted by each antenna in the array. In other embodiments someof the antennas in the array may be used to transmit at a differentfrequency. For example, ½ of the antennas in the array may operate at2.4 GHz while the other ½ may operate at 5.8 GHz. In another example, ⅓of the antennas in the array may operate at 900 MHz, another ⅓ mayoperate at 2.4 GHz, and the remaining antennas in the array may operateat 5.8 GHz.

In another embodiment, each array of antenna elements may be virtuallydivided into one or more antenna elements during wireless powertransmission, where each set of antenna elements in the array cantransmit at a different frequency. For example, an antenna element ofthe transmitter may transmit power transmission signals at 2.4 GHz, buta corresponding antenna element of a receiver may be configured toreceive power transmission signals at 5.8 GHz. In this example, aprocessor of the transmitter may adjust the antenna element of thetransmitter to virtually or logically divide the antenna elements in thearray into a plurality patches that may be fed independently. As aresult, 1/4 of the array of antenna elements may be able to transmit the5.8 GHz needed for the receiver, while another set of antenna elementsmay transmit at 2.4 GHz. Therefore, by virtually dividing an array ofantenna elements, electronic devices coupled to receivers can continueto receive wireless power transmission. The foregoing may be beneficialbecause, for example, one set of antenna elements may transmit at about2.4 GHz and other antenna elements may transmit at 5.8 GHz, and thus,adjusting a number of antenna elements in a given array when workingwith receivers operating at different frequencies. In this example, thearray is divided into equal sets of antenna elements (e.g., four antennaelements), but the array may be divided into sets of different amountsof antenna elements. In an alternative embodiment, each antenna elementmay alternate between select frequencies.

The efficiency of wireless power transmission as well as the amount ofpower that can be delivered (using pocket-forming) may be a function ofthe total number of antenna elements 1006 used in a given receivers andtransmitters system. For example, for delivering about one watt at about15 feet, a receiver may include about 80 antenna elements while atransmitter may include about 256 antenna elements. Another identicalwireless power transmission system (about 1 watt at about 15 feet) mayinclude a receiver with about 40 antenna elements, and a transmitterwith about 512 antenna elements. Reducing in half the number of antennaelements in a receiver may require doubling the number of antennaelements in a transmitter. In some embodiments, it may be beneficial toput a greater number of antenna elements in transmitters than in areceivers because of cost, because there will be much fewer transmittersthan receivers in a system-wide deployment. However, the opposite can beachieved, e.g., by placing more antenna elements on a receiver than on atransmitter as long as there are at least two antenna elements in atransmitter 1002B.

II. Wireless Power Software Management System

A. Systems and Methods for Managing and Controlling a Wireless PowerNetwork (Basic)

FIG. 11 shows an exemplary embodiment of a wireless power network 1100in which one or more embodiments of the present disclosure may operate.Wireless power network 1100 may include communication between wirelesspower transmitter 1102 and one or more wireless powered receivers.Wireless powered receivers may include a client device 1104 with anadaptable paired receiver 1106 that may enable wireless powertransmission to the client device 1104. In another embodiment, a clientdevice 1104 include a wireless power receiver built in as part of thehardware of the device. Client device 1104 may be any device which usesan energy power source, such as, laptop computers, stationary computers,mobile phones, tablets, mobile gaming devices, televisions, radiosand/or any set of appliances that may require or benefit from anelectrical power source.

In one embodiment, wireless power transmitter 1102 may include amicroprocessor that integrates a power transmitter manager app 1108 (PWRTX MGR APP) as embedded software, and a third party applicationprogramming interface 1110 (Third Party API) for a Bluetooth Low Energychip 1112 (BLE CHIP HW). Bluetooth Low Energy chip 1112 may enablecommunication between wireless power transmitter 1102 and other devicessuch as, client device 1104. In some embodiment, Bluetooth Low Energychip 1112 may be utilize another type of wireless protocol such asBluetooth®, Wi-Fi, NFC, and ZigBee. Wireless power transmitter 1102 mayalso include an antenna manager software 1114 (Antenna MGR Software) tocontrol an RF antenna array 1116 that may be used to form controlled RFwaves that act as power transmission signals that may converge in 3-dspace and create pockets of energy on wireless power receivers. Althoughthe exemplary embodiment recites the use of RF waves as powertransmission signals, the power transmission signals may include anynumber of alternative or additional techniques for transmitting energyto a receiver converting the transmitted energy to electrical power.

Power transmitter manager app 1108 may call third party applicationprogramming interface 1110 for running a plurality of functions such asstarting a connection, ending a connection, and sending data amongothers. Third party application programming interface 1110 may commandBluetooth Low Energy chip 1112 according to the functions called bypower transmitter manager app 1108.

Power transmitter manager app 1108 may also include a database 1118,which may store database comprising identification and attributeinformation of the wireless power transmitter 1102, of the receiver1106, and of client devices 1104. Exemplary identification and attributeinformation includes identifiers for a client device 1104, voltageranges for a client device 1104, location, signal strength and/or anyrelevant information from a client device 1104. Database 1118 may alsostore information relevant to the wireless power network such as,receiver ID's, transmitter ID's, end-user handheld devices, systemmanagement servers, charging schedules (information indicative of thescheduling of a charge time for the client device 1104), chargingpriorities and/or any data relevant to a wireless power network. Otherexamples of identification and attribute information include informationindicative of level of power usage of one of the client device 1104;information indicative of power received at the receiver 1106 that isavailable to the client device 1104; and information of the duration ofpower usage of the client device.

Third party application programming interface 1110 at the same time maycall power transmitter manager app 1108 through a callback functionwhich may be registered in the power transmitter manager app 1108 atboot time. Third party application programming interface 1110 may have atimer callback that may go for ten times a second, and may sendcallbacks every time a connection begins, a connection ends, aconnection is attempted, or a message is received.

Client device 1104 may include a power receiver app 1120 (PWR RX APP), athird party application programming interface 1122 (Third party API) fora Bluetooth Low Energy chip 1124 (BLE CHIP HW), and a RF antenna array1126 which may be used to receive and utilize the pockets of energy sentfrom wireless power transmitter 1102.

Power receiver app 1120 may call third party application programminginterface 1122 for running a plurality of functions such as start aconnection, end the connection, and send data among others. Third partyapplication programming interface 1122 may have a timer callback thatmay go for ten times a second, and may send callbacks every time aconnection begins, a connection ends, a connection is attempted, ormessage is received.

Client device 1104 may be paired to an adaptable paired receiver 1106via a BLE connection 1128. A graphical user interface (GUI 1130) may beused to manage the wireless power network from a client device 1104. GUI1130 may be a software module that may be downloaded from any suitableapplication store and may run on any suitable operating system such asiOS and Android, among others. Client device 1104 may also communicatewith wireless power transmitter 1102 via a BLE connection 1128 to sendimportant data such as an identifier for the device as well as batterylevel information, antenna voltage, geographic location data, or otherinformation that may be of use for the wireless power transmitter 1102.

A wireless power manager 1132 software may be used in order to managewireless power network 1100. Wireless power manager 1132 may be asoftware module hosted in memory and executed by a processor inside acomputing device 1134. The wireless power manager 1132 may includeinstructions to generate outputs and to receive inputs via a GraphicalUser Interface (GUI), so that a user 1136 may see options and statuses,and may enter commands to manage the wireless power network 1100. Thecomputing device 1134 may be connected to the wireless power transmitter1102 through standard communication protocols which may includeBluetooth®, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Wi-Fi, NFC, and ZigBee®. Powertransmitter manager app 1108 may exchange information with wirelesspower manager 1132 in order to control access and power transmissionfrom client devices 1104. Functions controlled by the wireless powermanager 1132 may include, scheduling power transmission for individualdevices, priorities between different client devices, access credentialsfor each client, physical location, broadcasting messages, and/or anyfunctions required to manage the wireless power network 1100.

FIG. 12 shows a sequence diagram 1200 for a real time communicationbetween wireless powered transmitters and wireless powered receivers,according to an embodiment.

Sequence diagram 1200 illustrates the interactions between objects orroles in a wireless powered network. The objects or roles described heremay include, but is not limited to, a user 1202 which manages thewireless power network, a wireless power manager 1204 which serves as afront end application for managing the wireless power network, powerreceiver devices with corresponding power receiver apps 1206 andtransmitters with corresponding power transmitter manager apps 1208.

The process may begin when wireless power manager 1204 requests 1210information from a power transmitter manager app 1208 hosted in awireless transmitter. Request 1210 may include authentication securitysuch as user name and password. Power transmitter manager apps 1208 maythen verify the request 1210 and grant access to the wireless powermanager 1204.

Wireless power manager 1204 may continuously request 1210 informationfor different time periods in order to continue updating itself. Powertransmitter manager app 1208 may then send database records 1212 to thewireless power manager 1204. Wireless power manager 1204 may thendisplay 1214 these records with options in a suitable GUI to a user1202. User 1202 may then perform different actions in order to managethe wireless power network. For example and without limitation, a user1202 may configure powering schedules 1216 for different devices, theuser 1202 may also establish priorities depending on time 1218, type ofclient 1220, physical location 1222 or may even choose to broadcast amessage 1224 to client devices. The wireless power manager 1204 may thensend 1226 the updated database records back to the power transmittermanager apps 1208.

In a wireless network power grid more than one transmitter may be used.Power transmitter manager apps 1208 hosted on each transmitter may shareupdates 1228 to the device database. Power transmitter manager apps 1208may then perform an action 1230 depending on the command and updatesmade by the user 1202 such as, charge a wireless device, send a messageto the wireless devices, set a schedule to charge different devices, setpower priority to specific devices, etc.

B. System and Method for a Self-system Analysis in a Wireless PowerTransmission Network

FIG. 13 shows a wireless power transmission system 1300 using a wirelesspower transmitter manager 1302, according to an embodiment. Wirelesspower transmitter manager 1302 may include a processor withcomputer-readable medium, such as a random access memory (RAM) (notshown) coupled to the processor. Examples of processor may include amicroprocessor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), andfield programmable object array (FPOA), among others.

Under the control of wireless power transmitter manager 1302, thewireless power transmission system 1300 may transmit controlled RF wavesthat act as power transmission signals that may converge in 3-d spaceand create pockets of energy on wireless power receivers. Although theexemplary embodiment recites the use of RF waves as power transmissionsignals, the power transmission signals may include any number ofalternative or additional techniques for transmitting energy to areceiver converting the transmitted energy to electrical power.

Wireless power receiver 1304 may be paired with customer device 1306 ormay be built into customer device 1306. Examples of customer devices1306 may include laptop computer, smartphones, tablets, music players,and toys, among other. Customer device 1306 may include a graphical userinterface 1312 (GUI). Wireless power transmitter manager 1302 mayreceive customer device's signal strength from advertisement emitted bywireless power receiver 1304 for detecting if wireless power receiver1304 is paired with customer device and also for the purpose ofdetecting if wireless power receiver 1304 is nearer to wireless powertransmitter manager 1302 than to any other wireless power transmittermanager 2902 in the wireless power transmission system 1300. Wirelesspower receiver 1304 may be defined as assigned to wireless powertransmitter manager 1302, which may have exclusive control and authorityto change the wireless power receiver's record in device database 1316until wireless power receiver 1304 moves to a new location closer toanother wireless power transmitter manager 1302. An individual copy ofwireless power receiver's record may be stored in device database 1316of each wireless power transmitter manager 1302 and also in each serverof wireless power transmission system 1300, through a cloud (not shownin FIG. 13).

According to some aspects of this embodiment, one or more servers (notshown in FIG. 13) may be a backup of device database 1316 shared byevery wireless power transmitter manager 1302 in wireless powertransmission system 1300.

Under the control of wireless power transmitter manager 1302, thewireless power transmission system 1300 may transfer power in a range upto 30 feet.

Wireless power transmitter manager 1302 may use, but is not limited to,Bluetooth low energy (BLE) to establish a communication link 1308 withwireless power receiver 1304 and a control link 1310 with customerdevice's graphical user interface (GUI). Wireless power transmittermanager 1302 may use control link 1310 to receive commands from andreceive pairing information from customer device's graphical userinterface (GUI).

Wireless power transmitter manager 1302 may include antenna managersoftware 1314 to track customer device 1306. Antenna manager software1314 may use real time telemetry to read the state of the power receivedby customer device 1306.

According to some aspects of this embodiment, wireless power transmittermanager 1302 may include a device database 1316, where device database1316 may store three sub-dimensions of data: past, present, and future.The future data may include customer devices 1306 power schedules. Thepresent data may include the locations and/or movements in the system,configuration, pairing, errors, faults, alarms, problems, messages sentbetween the wireless power devices, and tracking information, amongothers. With reference to FIG. 14, the past data may include detailssuch as the amount of power customer device 1306 used, the amount ofenergy that was transferred to customer device's battery, and thus soldto the customer who has or owns the device, the amount of time customerdevice 1306 has been assigned to a given wireless power transmittermanager. This past data includes for example information on when acustomer device 1306 started pairing with graphical user interface 1312(GUI), activities in the system, any action or event of any wirelesspower device in the system, errors, faults, and design problems, amongothers, for each customer device 1306 in wireless power transmissionsystem 1300. Device database 1316 may also store customer device's powerschedule, customer device's status, names, customer sign-in names,authorization and authentication credentials, encrypted information,areas, details running the system, and information about all wirelesspower devices such as wireless power transmitter managers, wirelesspower receivers, end user hand-held devices, and servers, among others.

In other situations, there can be multiple wireless power transmittermanagers 1302 and/or multiple wireless power receivers 1304 for poweringvarious customer devices 1306.

FIG. 14 illustrates a wireless power transmission network 1400,according to an embodiment. In a wireless power transmission network1400, multiple wireless power transmitter managers and/or multiplewireless power receivers may be used for powering various customerdevices 1402. A wireless power receiver 1404 may be paired with customerdevice 1402 or may be built in customer device 1402. Example of customerdevices 1402 may include smartphones, tablets, music players, toys andothers at the same time. Customer device 1402 may include a graphicaluser interface 1408 (GUI).

Each wireless power transmitter manager 1406 in wireless powertransmission network 1400 may receive customer device's signal strengthfrom advertisement emitted by wireless power receiver 1404 and graphicaluser interface 1408 (GUI) for the purpose of detecting if wireless powerreceiver 1404 is paired with graphical user interface 1408 (GUI) andalso for detecting if wireless power receiver 1404 is nearer to wirelesspower transmitter manager 1406 than to any other wireless powertransmitter manager 1406 in the wireless power transmission network1400. Wireless power receiver 1404 may be defined as assigned towireless power transmitter manager 1406, which may have exclusivecontrol and authority to change the wireless power receiver's record indevice database 1410 until wireless power receiver 1404 moves to a newlocation closer to another wireless power transmitter manager 1406. Anindividual copy of wireless power receiver's record may be stored indevice database 1410 of each wireless power transmitter manager 1406 andalso in each server 1414 of wireless power transmission network 1400,through a cloud 1416.

According to some aspects of this embodiment, one or more servers 1414may function as a backup of device database 1410 in the wireless powertransmission network 1400. Server 1414 may search devices in wirelesspower transmission network 1400. Server 1414 may locate device database1410 through UDP packets that are broadcast when a given wireless powertransmitter manager 1406 boots up. The UDP packet may include the UUIDof wireless power transmitter manager 1406 and also its location. Toback up a specific device database 1410, server 1414 may request accessto a given wireless power transmitter manager 1406 in the network 1400.Server 1414 may establish a connection with wireless power transmittermanagers 1406 and wireless power transmitter manager 1406 may accept theconnection and wait for the first amount of data from server 1414. Thefirst amount of data may be 128 bits UUID, once wireless powertransmitter manager 1406 verifies the data, it may allow server 1414 toread a device database 1410. Server 1414 may backup device database1410. Also wireless power transmitter manager 1406 may be able toreestablish its own device database 1410 from the information stored inserver 1414. For example if a given wireless power transmitter manager1406 experience a power interruption, resulting in a software restart orsystem boot up, it may broadcast a UDP packet to search any server 1414in the network 1400. Once wireless power transmitter manager 1406 findsserver 1414, it may establish a TCP connection to restore its own devicedatabase 1410.

Each wireless power transmitter manager in wireless power transmissionnetwork 1400 may include device database 1410. When a record change in agiven device database 1410, this change may be distributed to all devicedatabases 1410 in wireless power transmission network 1400.

Device database 1410 may store three sub-dimensions of data: past,present, and future. The future data may include customer devices 1402power schedules. The present data may include the locations and/ormovements in the system, configuration, pairing, errors, faults, alarms,problems, messages sent between the wireless power devices, and trackinginformation, among others. The past data may include details such as theamount of power customer device 1402 used, the amount of energy that wastransferred to customer device's battery, and thus sold to the customerwho has or owns the device, the amount of time customer device 1402 hasbeen assigned to a given wireless power transmitter manager 1406, whendid customer device 1402 start pairing with graphical user interface1408 (GUI), activities in the system, any action or event of anywireless power device in the system, errors, faults, and designproblems, among others, for each customer device 1402 in wireless powertransmission network. Device database 1410 may also store customerdevice's power schedule, customer device's status, names, customersign-in names, authorization and authentication credentials, encryptedinformation, areas, details running the system, and information aboutall wireless power devices such as wireless power transmitter managers,wireless power receivers, end user hand-held devices, and servers, amongothers.

Each wireless power device in wireless power transmission network 1400may include a universally unique identifier (UUID). When a givenwireless power transmitter manager 1406 boots up, and periodicallythereafter, it may broadcast a user datagram protocol (UDP) packet thatcontains its unique UUID, and status to all devices in wireless powertransmission network 1400. The UDP packet is only distributed throughthe local network. Each wireless power transmitter manager 1406 andserver 1414 in wireless power transmission network may establish, but isnot limited to, a Wi-Fi connection 1412 to share updated devicedatabase's records between other wireless power devices in the system,including such device database information as: quality controlinformation, wireless power device's status, wireless power device'sconfiguration, control, logs, schedules, statistics, and problemreports, among others.

In another aspect of this embodiment, any wireless power transmittermanager, besides using UDP packets to send information through wirelesspower transmission network 3200, may also use transmission controlprotocol (TCP) to exchange information outside the local network.

In another aspect of this embodiment, server 1414 and wireless powertransmitter managers 1406 may be connected to a cloud 1416. Cloud 1416may be used to share between wireless power devices any device databaseinformation, among others.

According to some aspects of this embodiment, each wireless powertransmitter manager 1406 and server 1414 in the network may be connectedto a business cloud 1420 through an internet cloud 1418. Business cloud1420 may belong to a given business using a service provider to offerwireless power transfer to their users. Business cloud 1420 may beconnected to a Business service provider server 1422. Business serviceprovider server 1422 may store marketing information, customer billing,customer configuration, customer authentication, and customer supportinformation, among others.

Internet cloud 1418 may be also connected to a service provider cloud1424. Service provider cloud 1424 may store marketing and engineeringinformation, such as less popular features, errors in the system,problems report, statistics, and quality control, among others.

Each wireless power transmitter manager 1406 may periodically establisha TCP connection with business cloud 1420 and service provider cloud1424 to send its respective device database 1410.

In a different aspect of this embodiment, each wireless powertransmitter manager 1406 in wireless power transmission network 1400 maybe able to detect failures in the network. Example of failure in thenetwork may include overheating in any wireless power transmittermanager 1406, malfunction, and overload, among others. If a failure isdetected by any of wireless power transmitter manager 1406 in thesystem, then the failure may be analyzed by any wireless powertransmitter manager 1406 in the system. After the analysis is completed,a recommendation may be generated to enhance or correct the system. Therecommendation may be sent through cloud 1416 to business serviceprovider server 1422 and also to service provider cloud 1424. Serviceprovider cloud 1424 may use the recommendation as quality control,engineering control, and to generated statistics, among others. Also therecommendation may be communicated to the person in charge of managingwireless power transmission network 1400 by text messages or E-mail.Also any device in the network with a copy of device database 1410 maybe able to perform an analysis and generate a recommendation to enhanceor correct the system.

In another aspect of this embodiment, each wireless power transmittermanager 1406 may send an alert message for different conditions, wherewireless power transmitter manager 1406 may include a LED, which blinksfor indicating under which conditions wireless power transmitter manager1406 may be working.

In another aspect of this embodiment, wireless power transmitter manager1406 may be able to detect failures on its own performance. If wirelesspower transmitter manager 1406 detects a failure, the analysis may beperformed locally by wireless power transmitter manager 1406. After theanalysis is completed, a recommendation may be generated to enhance orcorrect the system. Then wireless power transmitter manager 1406 maysend the information through cloud 1416 to business service providerserver 1422 and service provider cloud 1424. Also the recommendation maybe communicated to the person in charge of managing wireless powertransmission network 1400 by text messages or E-mail.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart 1500 of method for self-system analysis in awireless power transmission network, according to an embodiment.

In a wireless power transmission network, multiple wireless powertransmitter managers and/or multiple wireless power receivers may beused for powering various customer devices.

Each wireless power transmitter manager in the system may scan thewireless power transmission network, at step 1502. Each wireless powertransmitter manager in wireless power transmission network may receivecustomer device's signal strength from advertisement emitted by awireless power receiver and a graphical user interface (GUI) for thepurpose of detecting if wireless power receiver is paired with graphicaluser interface (GUI) and also for detecting if wireless power receiveris nearer to wireless power transmitter manager than to any otherwireless power transmitter manager in the wireless power transmissionnetwork. Wireless power receiver may be defined as assigned to wirelesspower transmitter manager, which may have exclusive control andauthority to change the wireless power receiver's record in devicedatabase until wireless power receiver moves to a new location closer toanother wireless power transmitter manager. An individual copy ofwireless power receiver's record may be stored in device database ofeach wireless power transmitter manager and also in each server ofwireless power transmission network, through a cloud.

According to some aspects of this embodiment, one or more servers mayfunction as a backup of the device database in the wireless powertransmission network. The servers and wireless power transmittermanagers in the wireless power transmission network may be connected tothe cloud. The cloud may be used to share between system devices:quality control information, statistics, and problem reports, amongothers.

Wireless power transmitter manager may search for wireless powerreceivers to communicate with and send power. A wireless power receivermay be paired with customer device or may be built in customer device.Example of customer devices may include smartphones, tablets, musicplayers, toys and others at the same time. Customer device may include agraphical user interface (GUI).

Wireless power transmitter manager may be able to detect failures in thewireless power transmission network, at step 1504. Examples of failuremay include loss of power, failure in the hardware or software of thewireless power transmitter manager, malfunction in a wireless powertransmitter manager, and overload of the wireless power transmittermanager, and malfunction in a wireless power receiver, overheating orother environmental problems, and intrusion, among others.

If wireless power transmitter manager detects a failure in the wirelesspower transmission network, it may update its device database toregister the failure, at step 1506. Each wireless power transmittermanager in wireless power transmission network may include a devicedatabase, where device database may store three sub-dimensions of data:past, present, and future. The future data may include customer devicespower schedules. The present data may include the locations and/ormovements in the system, configuration, pairing, errors, faults, alarms,problems, messages sent between the wireless power devices, and trackinginformation, among others. The past data may include details such as theamount of power customer device used, the amount of energy that wastransferred to customer device's battery, and thus sold to the customerwho has or owns the device, the amount of time customer device has beenassigned to a given wireless power transmitter manager, when didcustomer device start pairing with the graphical user interface (GUI),activities in the system, any action or event of any wireless powerdevice in the system, errors, faults, and design problems, among others,for each customer device in wireless power transmission network. Devicedatabase may also store customer device's power schedule, customerdevice's status, names, customer sign-in names, authorization andauthentication credentials, encrypted information, areas, detailsrunning the system, and information about all wireless power devicessuch as wireless power transmitter managers, wireless power receivers,end user hand-held devices, and servers, among others.

When a record changes in a given device database, this change may bedistributed to all device databases in wireless power transmissionnetwork.

Subsequently, wireless power transmitter manager may analyze the failurein the wireless power transmission network, at step 1508. In anotheraspect of this embodiment the failure may be analyzed by any device inthe wireless power transmission network with a copy of device database.

After the analysis is completed, a recommendation may be generated toenhance or correct the system, at step 1510.

Wireless power transmitter manager may send the recommendation to abusiness service provider server and also to service provider cloud, atstep 1512. Service provider cloud may use the recommendation as qualitycontrol, engineering control, and to generated statistics, among others.Also the recommendation may be communicated to the person in charge ofmanaging wireless power transmission network by text messages or E-mail.

Else wireless power transmitter manager may continue scanning thewireless power transmission network, at step 1514.

Examples

Example #1 is a wireless power transmission network with componentssimilar to those described in FIG. 14. The wireless power transmissionnetwork may be working in a school, where student may charge theirelectronic devices wirelessly. A student may be charging his cellphonein the science classroom. The student starts moving because he needs totake another class in a different classroom. The student arrives to thecomputer classroom, but he is unable to continue charging his cellphone.At the same time that the student arrives to the computer classroom thewireless power transmitter manager near to the computer classroomexceeds the amount of electronic devices to be powered. Wireless powertransmitter manager may detect a failure in his performance and maystart analyzing the reason performance was affected. Wireless powertransmitter manager may find that an overload was the reason of itsperformance being affected. After the analysis is completed, arecommendation may be generated to enhance the system by installation ofanother wireless power transmitter manager. This recommendation may besent to the manager of the wireless power transmission network by textmessages or E-mail. Also the recommendation may be sent to the schoolservice provider server and to the service provider cloud.

III. Status and Usage

A. Systems and Methods for Tracking the Status and Usage Information ofa Wireless Power Transmission System

FIG. 16 illustrates a wireless power transmission system architecture1600, according to an exemplary embodiment.

According to some embodiments, wireless power transmission systemarchitecture 1600 may include a multiple wireless power transmissionsystems 1602 which may be able to transmit information to a remoteinformation service 1604 through an internet cloud 1606. In someembodiments, a multiple wireless power transmission system 1602 mayinclude one or more wireless power transmitters 1608, zero or morecomputing device 1620 coupled with wireless power receivers 1610, zeroor more non-computing devices 1632 coupled with wireless power receivers1610, a system management service 1612, and a local network 1614.Network 1614 connections may refer to any suitable connection betweencomputers such as intranets, local area networks (LAN), virtual privatenetworks (VPN), wireless area networks (WAN), and the internet, amongothers.

According to some embodiments, each wireless power transmitter 1608 mayinclude a wireless power transmitter manager 1616 and a distributedsystem database 1618. Each wireless power transmitter 1608 may be ableto manage and transmit power to one or more wireless power receivers1610, and each wireless power receiver 1610 may be able to charge andprovide power to computing devices 1620 and/or non-computing devices1632. Examples of suitable computing devices 1620 may includesmartphones, tablets, notebooks, and laptops, amongst others. Examplesof suitable non-computing devices 1632 may include toys, toothbrushes,LED lights, game remote controls, and music players, amongst others.

Wireless power transmitter manager 1616 may be able to control thebehavior of wireless power transmitters 1608, monitoring differentaspects, such as the started time of power transmission, the uniquesystem identification of both wireless power transmitter 1608 andwireless power receiver 1610, the amount of devices connected, thedirection angle of the antennas used, as well as, the voltage atwireless power receiver 1610's antenna may be reported; and thereal-time communication connection between wireless power transmitter1608 and wireless power receiver 1610, which may be used for trackinginformation from wireless power receiver 1610 no matter where it islocated or moved; among others.

According to some embodiments, distributed system database 1618 mayrecord relevant information from wireless power receivers 1610 withincomputing devices 1620/non-computing devices 1632, wireless powertransmitter 1608, and system management service 1612. Information mayinclude but is not limited to identifiers for computing devices1620/non-computing devices 1632, voltage ranges for computing devices1620/non-computing devices 1632, location, signal strength, wirelesspower receiver 1610 ID's, wireless power transmitter 1608 ID's, end-userhandheld device names ID's, system management server ID's, chargingschedules, charging priorities, and/or any data relevant to multiplewireless power transmission system 1602. Additionally, wireless powertransmitters 1608, wireless power receiver 1610 within computing devices1620/non-computing devices 1632 and system management service 1612 mayoperate as system information generator.

System management service 1612 may automatically monitor the databaseintegrity of each computing devices 1620, and may automaticallycommunicate with a computing devices 1620 to correct a detected error inits database. System management service 1612 may include components,such as a system management server 1634, a system management manager1636, and a system management database 1638.

Distributed system database 1618 may be implemented through known in theart database management systems (DBMS) such as, for example, MySQL,PostgreSQL, SQLite, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Access, Oracle, SAP,dBASE, FoxPro, IBM DB2, LibreOffice Base, FileMaker Pro and/or any othertype of database that may organize collections of data.

In some embodiments, wireless power transmitters 1608 may use network1614 to send and receive information. Network 1614 may be a local areanetwork, or any suitable communication system between the components ofthe multiple wireless power transmission system 1602. Network 1614 mayenable communication between two or more wireless power transmitters1608, the communication of wireless power transmitters 1608 with systemmanagement service 1612, and may facilitate the communication betweenmultiple wireless power transmission system 1602 and remote informationservice 1604 through internet cloud 1606, amongst others.

Remote information service 1604 may be operated by the owner of thesystem, the manufacturer or supplier of the system, or a serviceprovider. Remote information service 1604 may include differentcomponents, such as a back-end server 1622, a remote information servicemanager 1624, and a general remote information service database 1626.Back-end server 1622 and remote information service manager 1624 may beincluded into a single physical or virtual server. Remote informationservice database 1626 may include information data in a format or formdiscernible by remote information service 1604, possibly in encryptedform. Additionally, wireless power transmitter 1608, computing device1620 and system management service 1612, may generate usage and statusinformation in a format or form discernible by remote informationservice 1604, possibly in encrypted form. Remote information servicedatabase 1626 may be implemented through known in the art databasemanagement systems (DBMS) such as, for example, MySQL, PostgreSQL,SQLite, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Access, Oracle, SAP, dBASE,FoxPro, IBM DB2, LibreOffice Base, FileMaker Pro and/or any other typeof database that may organize collections of data.

Wireless power transmission system architecture 1600 may also includedifferent authorized computing devices 1628, which may access remoteinformation service 1604 through internet cloud 1606 in order to collectand store information about the status and usage of multiple wirelesspower transmission system 1602. The computing devices 1628 may be ownedby system owner, manufacturer of system, or client for fee baseddistribution of status and usage information. The authorized computingdevices 1628 may be operated by suitable users (e.g. clients,manufacturers or suppliers of the system) in order to determine if themultiple wireless power transmission system 1602 is operating correctly(or as expected) or has problems, as well as, to observe how the systemis being used by users for marketing or customer service purposes. Thecollected information may be reported or edited by the authorizedcomputing devices 1628 through a user interface 1630, which may displaydifferent functions, and which may be a web site or other. The collectedinformation may be provided in return for a fee.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of a process 1700 to determine the status andusage information from a multiple wireless power transmission system.Specifically, the components included within the multiple wireless powertransmission system may be a remote information service (cloud-based), aremote information service manager, a distributed system database, andclient computing devices, among others. Additionally, each components inthe multiple wireless power transmission system, such as wireless powertransmitters, computing devices/non computing devices (coupled withwireless power receiver devices), and the system management service, maybe considered as a system information generator.

The computing devices and the software modules within the multiplewireless power transmission system, may interact with each other througha suitable network connection. Network connections may refer to anysuitable connection between computers such as intranets, local areanetworks (LAN), virtual private networks (VPN), wireless area networks(WAN), and the internet, among others.

According to one or more embodiments, process 1700 may start whenever aclient computing device operated by a user, is connected to the multiplewireless power transmission system software (e.g. application software),at step 1702. Specifically, the client computing device may initiallydownload and install the multiple wireless power transmission systemsoftware from a public or private application store, where theapplication software may run on any computing device with operatingsystem, such as iOS, Android, and Microsoft Windows, among others.Examples of computing devices may include smartphones, tablets, laptops,music players, and any other computing device.

Once the client computing device is connected to the multiple wirelesspower transmission system, users may interact with the multiple wirelesspower transmission system through a user interface displayed on thesuitable client computing devices, at step 1704. Users interface mayallow users to interact with the multiple wireless power transmissionsystem through different options, such as the selection of a computingdevice to be charged, monitor the status of charge of one or morewireless power receiver, and create a schedule charge for one or morewireless power receiver, report the time when transmission ended, andthe total energy or power that was transmitted and received, amongothers.

The process may continue with step 1706, where the system informationgenerator may establish communication with the remote informationserver. Specifically, the remote information server may be locatedwithin the internet cloud or at a physical premises, and may be one ormore discreet or virtual computer systems. Additionally, the systeminformation generator may generate and store the information regardingthe status and usage of the multiple wireless power transmission systemwithin the distributed system database. Information may include but isnot limited to, how all components of the system are used; the presentstatus of the system; other categories of information including but isnot limited to, errors, faults, problems, trouble reports, logs ofoperational events, each command issued by each user, userconfigurations, amount of power transmitted per power transmitter andper power receiver, metrics of all software and hardware activity,values measured or read from hardware of the system, metrics and detailsof every automatic operation performed by the system software,description and details of present and past location of all clientcomputing devices and power receivers of the system, details oftransmitter communications transitions (i.e. transfer of communicationsand/or control of power receiver from one power transmitter unit toanother), all user scheduled configuration, all identifications of allsystem components, all software defined version labels for systemcomponents; and the present and past information for all of the above,times of occurrence, and identification of each associated systemcomponent for each of the above, among others.

The distributed system database may be implemented through known in theart database management systems (DBMS) such as, for example, MySQL,PostgreSQL, SQLite, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Access, Oracle, SAP,dBASE, FoxPro, IBM DB2, LibreOffice Base, FileMaker Pro and/or any othertype of database that may organize collections of data.

The software within the system information generator component thatmanages the distributed system database may automatically establish asecured or encrypted communication connection to verify the credentialsof the remote information service, at step 1708 via ID code. If theremote information service′ credentials are verified, the systeminformation generator may transmit the information data to the remoteinformation service, at step 1710. However, if connection cannot beestablished with the remote information service, the disclosed systeminformation generator may try again at a later time until theinformation data has been successfully sent to the remote informationservice.

Whenever the system information generator generates any information datato be stored in the distributed system database, the system informationgenerator may create a system information record, at step 1712, whichmay include information data in a format or discernible form by theremote information service, possibly in encrypted form. Subsequently,when the information on demand is stored in the distributed systemdatabase, the remote information service may receive the informationthat may come from the system information generator, at step 1714. Oncethe information on demand has been successfully received, remoteinformation service replies with an acknowledgment message to systeminformation generator, at step 1716. The information may be storedwithin a remote information service database. Additionally, the remoteinformation manager within the remote information service may beresponsible to execute some actions, such as update information, receiveinformation, store information, and send information to computingdevices.

The process may continue at step 1718, where once the information ondemand has been successfully transmitted, the system informationgenerator may delete the old disposable record of what it just sent tothe remote information service from its local copy of the distributedsystem database in order to not overrun beyond its data storagecapacity.

Finally, the authorized client computing device with the validatedcredentials may download the information from the remote informationservice, at step 1720, and then the authorized client computing devicemay report and/or edit the information on demand, at step 1722 from themultiple wireless power transmission system.

The information may be used for different purposes such as for theobservation or verification of past or present expected system status oroperation, and system configuration; for the purpose of rapidlydetecting and responding to problems, trouble, issues, errors, or faultswithin the system; for information including but not limited tostatistics or metrics describing how the system features are in use forthe purpose of increased accuracy of strategic marketing and salesfocus; and for information required for billing end users, of themultiple wireless power transmission system, for power received.

Examples

Example #1 is an embodiment of a wireless power transmission systemwhere a wireless power transmitter transmits power to a wireless powerreceiver to charge a client device attached to the receiver. After thetransmission of power, the transmitter, also being a system informationgenerator, establishes a communication connection with a remoteinformation service, which may be Internet cloud based. The transmitterthen communicates the detailed usage of the system in transmission ofpower from the transmitter through the receiver to the client device.The information service communicates an acknowledgement back totransmitter, and transmitter then deletes the usage information that wassent, to prevent transmitter's memory or database from overflowing. Theinformation service may then distribute or provide for a fee theinformation to a user or computing device of another party.

The disclosed information may include, but is not limited to, the timewhen power transmission started, the unique system identification ofboth power transmitter and power receiver, the amount and directionangle of antennas used; as well as, the voltage at the power receiver'santenna reported by the power receiver to the power transmitter throughthe real-time communication connection between the transmitter and thereceiver that is used for tracking the receiver no matter the receiver'slocation or movement.

B. Systems and Methods for Communication with Remote Management Systems

FIG. 18 shows a wireless power system architecture 1800, according to anexemplary embodiment. System architecture 1800 may include one or morewireless power transmitters 1802, and one or more wireless powerreceivers 1804. In some embodiments, wireless power system architecture1800 may include one or more electronic devices 1806, where electronicdevices 1806 may not have a built-in wireless power receiver 1804. Inother embodiments, wireless power system architecture 1800 may includeelectronic devices 1808 with a built-in power receiver 1804.

Power transmitters 1802 may transmit controlled Radio Frequency (RF)waves which may converge in 3-D space. These RF waves may be controlledthrough phase and/or relative amplitude adjustments to form constructiveand destructive interference patterns (pocket-forming). Pockets ofenergy may form at constructive interference patterns that may be3-dimensional in shape whereas null-spaces may be present outside theconstructive interference patterns.

According to exemplary embodiments, power transmitters 1802 may includea power transmitter manager application 1810, a third party BluetoothLow Energy (BLE) API 1812, a BLE chip 1814, an antenna manager software1816 and an antenna array 1818 among other components. Power transmittermanager application 1810 may be an executable program loaded into anon-volatile memory within a power transmitter 1802. Power transmittermanager application 1810 may control the behavior of power transmitter1802, monitor the state of charge of electronic devices 1806, electronicdevices 1808 and power receivers 1804, may keep track of the location ofpower receivers 1804 and may execute power schedules, amongst others. Insome embodiments, power transmitters 1802 may include a distributedwireless power transmission system database (not shown in figure) forstoring information related to power receivers 1804, electronic devices1806, power status, power schedules, IDs, pairing and any suitableinformation necessary for running the system.

Third party BLE API 1812 may enable the effective interaction betweenpower transmitter manager application 1810 and BLE chip 1814. Antennamanager software 1816 may process orders from power transmitter managerapplication 1810 and may control power and direction angle of antennaarray 1818.

Antenna arrays 1818 that may be included in power transmitters 1802 mayinclude a number of antenna elements capable of transmitting power. Insome embodiments, antenna array 1818 may include from up to 2612 antennaelements which may be distributed in an equally spaced grid. In oneembodiment, antenna array 1818 may have an 8×8 grid to have a total of64 antenna elements. In another embodiment, antenna array 1818 may havea 16×16 grid to have a total of 256 antenna elements. In anotherembodiment, antenna array 1818 may have a total of 512 antenna elements.However, the number of antenna elements may vary in relation with thedesired range and power transmission capacity of power transmitter 1802.Generally, with more antenna elements, a wider range and higher powertransmission capacity may be achieved. Alternate configurations may alsobe possible including circular patterns or polygon arrangements, amongstothers.

The antenna elements of antenna array 1818 may include suitable antennatypes for operating in frequency bands such as 900 MHz, 2.5 GHz, 38.250GHz, or 38.8 GHz, antenna elements may operate in independentfrequencies, allowing a multichannel operation of pocket-forming.

Power transmitter 1802 may additionally include other suitablecommunications methods such as Wi-Fi, ZigBee and LAN amongst others.

Power receivers 1804 may include a power receiver application 1820, athird party BLE API 1812, a BLE chip 1814, and a power reception antennaarray 1822. Power receivers 1804 may be capable of utilizing pockets ofenergy produced by power transmitter 1802 for charging or poweringelectronic devices 1806 and electronic devices 1808. Power receiverapplication 1820 may be an executable program loaded into a non-volatilememory within a power receiver 1804.

Third party BLE API 1812 may enable the effective interaction betweenpower receiver application 1820 and BLE chip 1814. Antenna array 1822may be capable of harvesting power from pockets of energy.

Electronic devices 1806 and electronic devices 1808 may include a GUIfor managing the wireless power system architecture 1800. The GUI may beassociated with an executable program loaded into a non-volatile memory.In some embodiments, electronic devices 1806 and electronic devices 1808may include a distributed wireless power transmission system database(not shown in figure) for storing information related to power receivers1804, power status, power schedules, IDs, pairing and any suitableinformation necessary for running the system.

In some embodiments, wireless power system architecture 1800 may includemultiple power transmitters 1802 and/or multiple power receivers 1804for charging a plurality of electronic devices 1806. In systemsincluding multiple power transmitters 1802, the two or more powertransmitters may be in constant communication using any suitablecommunication channel available, including Bluetooth®, BLE, Wi-Fi,ZigBee, LAN, LTE and LTE direct amongst others.

FIG. 19 illustrates a wireless power transmission system network 1900,according to an exemplary embodiment.

According to some embodiments, wireless power transmission systemnetwork 1900 may include multiple wireless power transmission systems1902 capable of communicating with a remote management system 1904through internet cloud 1906.

In some embodiments, wireless power transmission system 1902 may includeone or more wireless power transmitters 1908, one or more powerreceivers 1910, one or more backup servers 1912 and a local network1914.

According to some embodiments, each power transmitter 1908 may include awireless power transmitter manager 1916 and a distributed wireless powertransmission system database 1918. Each power transmitter 1908 may becapable of managing and transmitting power to one or more powerreceivers 1910, where each power receiver 1910 may be capable ofcharging or providing power to one or more electronic devices 1920.

Power transmitter managers 1916 may control the behavior of powertransmitters 1908, monitor the state of charge of electronic devices1920, and power receivers 1910, may keep track of the location of powerreceivers 1910 and may execute power schedules, run system check-ups andkeep track of the energy provided to each of the different electronicdevices 1920, amongst others.

According to some embodiments, database 1918 may store relevantinformation from electronic devices 1920 such as, identifiers forelectronic devices 1920, voltage ranges for electronic devices 1920,location, signal strength and/or any relevant information fromelectronic devices 1920. Database 1918 may also store informationrelevant to the wireless power transmission system 1902 such as,receiver ID's, transmitter ID's, end-user handheld device names ID's,system management server ID's, charging schedules, charging prioritiesand/or any data relevant to a power transmission system network 1900.

Additionally, in some embodiments, database 1918 may store data of pastand present system status.

The past system status data may include details such as the amount ofpower delivered to an electronic device 1920, the amount of energy thatwas transferred to a group of electronic devices 1920 associated with auser, the amount of time an electronic device 1920 has been associatedto a wireless power transmitter 1908, pairing records, activities withinthe system, any action or event of any wireless power device in thesystem, errors, faults, and configuration problems, among others. Pastsystem status data may also include power schedules, names, customersign-in names, authorization and authentication credentials, encryptedinformation, physical areas of system operation, details for running thesystem, and any other suitable system or user-related information.

Present system status data stored in database 1918 may include thelocations and/or movements in the system, configuration, pairing,errors, faults, alarms, problems, messages sent between the wirelesspower devices, and tracking information, among others.

According to some exemplary embodiments, databases 1918 within powertransmitters 1908 may further store future system status information,where the future status of the system may be forecasted or evaluatedaccording to historical data from past system status data and presentsystem status data.

In some embodiments, records from all device databases 1918 in awireless power transmission system 1902 may also be stored andperiodically updated in server 1912. In some embodiments, wireless powertransmission system network 1900 may include two or more servers 1912.

In another exemplary embodiment, wireless power transmitters 1908 mayfurther be capable of detecting failures in the wireless powertransmission system 1902. Examples of failures in power transmissionsystem 1902 may include overheating of any component, malfunction, andoverload, among others. If a failure is detected by any of wirelesspower transmitters 1908 within the system, then the failure may beanalyzed by any wireless power transmitter manager 1916 in the system.After the analysis is completed, a recommendation or an alert may begenerated and reported to owner of the power transmission system or to aremote cloud-based information service, for distribution to system owneror manufacturer or supplier.

In some embodiments, power transmitters 1908 may use network 1914 tosend and receive information. Network 1914 may be a local area network,or any suitable communication system between the components of thewireless power transmission system 1902. Network 1914 may enablecommunication between power transmitters, the communication of powertransmitters with server 1912, and may facilitate the communicationbetween power transmission system 1902 and remote management system1904, amongst others.

According to some embodiments, network 1914 may facilitate datacommunication between power transmission system 1902 and remotemanagement system 1904 through internet cloud 1906.

Remote management system 1904 may be operated by the owner of thesystem, the manufacturer or supplier of the system or a serviceprovider. Remote management system may include business cloud 1922,remote manager 1924 and backend server 1926, where the remote manager1924 may further include a general database 1928. Functionality ofbackend server 1926 and remote manager 1924 can be combined into asingle physical or virtual server.

General database 1928 may store additional backups of the informationstored in the device databases 1918. Additionally, general database 1928may store marketing information, customer billing, customerconfiguration, customer authentication, and customer supportinformation, among others. In some embodiments, general database 1928may also store information, such as less popular features, errors in thesystem, problems report, statistics, and quality control, among others.

Each wireless power transmitter 1908 may periodically establish a TCPcommunication connection with remote manager 1924 for authentication,problem report purposes or reporting of status or usage details, amongothers.

FIG. 20 shows a flowchart of a general system status 2000 reportgeneration process, according to an exemplary embodiment. Wireless powertransmission systems may periodically send status reports to a remotemanagement system, similar to the management systems previouslydescribed. General system status 2000 report generation process maystart with past status report generation 2002, in this step any serverwithin a wireless power transmission system may gather information thatmay include details such as the amount of power delivered to each of theelectronic devices in the system during a certain time period, theamount of energy that was transferred to a group of electronic devicesassociated with a user, the amount of time an electronic device has beenassociated to a wireless power transmitter, pairing records, activitieswithin the system, any action or event of any wireless power device inthe system, errors, faults, and configuration problems, among others.Past system status data may also include power schedules, names,customer sign-in names, authorization and authentication credentials,encrypted information, areas, details for running the system, and anyother suitable system or user-related information.

Then, the server within the wireless power transmission system may run asystem check-up 2004. In this step, the server within the wireless powertransmission system may check for any present failure, error or abnormalfunction of any system or subsystem components. Additionally, the serverwithin the wireless power transmission system may check and perform anevaluation of the current system configuration.

Afterwards, the system may generate present status report 2006 andfuture status report 2008. Present status report may include any presentfailure, error or abnormal function of any system or subsystemcomponents; a list of presently online end-users and devices, currentsystem configuration and power schedules, amongst others.

Future status report 2008 may include forecasts based on theextrapolation or evaluation of past and present system status reports.For example, the system may be able to extrapolate possible impendingsub-system component failure based on logged past behavior of sub-systemcomponents. The system may also be able to evaluate the power schedulesand determine if any device will be out of energy according tohistorical power consumption and current power schedule.

In some embodiments, the system may further evaluate the systemconfiguration to check if any configuration set by an operator orend-user may cause an unwanted system behavior. Such will be reportedusing the same techniques described above.

Then, the wireless power transmitters may evaluate 2010 if an alert isneeded. If an alert is needed, the alert may be immediately generatedand sent 2012. Depending of the type of problem detected, the alerts maybe sent to the end-users, the system's owner, the service provider orany suitable combination, or to a remote system manager which candistribute a description of this urgent situation to customer service orother personnel via email, text message, or synthesized voice telephonecall, according to alert configuration records stored within generaldatabase.

After the alert has been sent or if there is no alert needed, the serverwithin the wireless power transmission system executing the reportgeneration algorithm described in FIG. 20 may update 2014 its databasewith the reports and optionally back them up in a suitable server. Ifthere are multiple servers, then only one at a time will be active forthe generation of reports, while the others remain in stand-by mode, totake over if the active server goes offline. A hierarchy of prioritywill determine which online server is the present active (master)server.

Then, using a suitable TCP/IP connection the reports may be sent 2016 toa remote system manager for further evaluation. In some embodiments, thesystem may receive 2018 feedback from the remote system manager toindicate verification and storage of any received information.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart of a past status report 2100 generation process,according to an exemplary embodiment. The process for generation of apast status report 2100 may start with the generation 2102 of anon-end-user report, where non-end-user report may include loggedactivity, commands and configuration inputs of any non-end-user systemoperator.

Then, the system may generate 2104 a logged usage report which mayinclude logged usage details and wireless energy consumption details.The wireless energy consumption details may include the amount of powerdelivered to each device and total amount of power delivered to thedevices associated with each end user.

In some embodiments, the logged usage report may be used to computepower bills to charge end-users for the amount of wireless powerreceived during a given time period.

Then, the system may generate 2106 an automatic actions report which mayinclude automatic actions performed by or over any of the systemcomponents, including all power transmitters, power receivers, and anysystem management GUI.

Subsequently, the system may generate 2108 a location and movementreport, which may include the location and movement tracking details ofpower receivers relative to power transmitters in the system.

After the reports have been generated the system may assemble paststatus report 2100 and update 2110 the database.

Then, using a suitable TCP/IP connection the reports may be sent 2112 toa remote system manager for further evaluation. In some embodiments, thesystem may receive 2114 feedback from the remote system manager toindicate verification and storage of any received information.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart of a present status report 2200 generationprocess, according to an exemplary embodiment. The process of generationof present status reports 2200 may start with the generation 2202 of asystem functioning report, in which the system may evaluate theperformance of each of the systems components to detect any failure,error or abnormal function of any system or subsystem component. Thenthe system may generate 2204 a list of all online users and devices.Afterwards, the system may generate 2206 a report of the current systemconfiguration.

Additionally, the system may check 2208 the state of charge all theelectronic devices within the system. If any electronic device withinthe system is in urgent need 2210 of charge the system may generate andsend 2212 an alert. The alert may be sent to the users in form of textmessages, emails, voice synthesis telephone communication or any othersuitable means.

In some embodiments, whenever an electronic device has a minimum amountof energy left the system may be capable of contacting the end-user tomake the end user aware of the current state of charge of the electronicdevice.

After the reports have been generated the system may assemble presentstatus report 2200 and update 2214 the database.

Then, using a suitable TCP/IP connection the reports may be sent 2216 toa remote system manager for further evaluation. In some embodiments, thesystem may receive 2218 feedback from the remote system manager toindicate verification and storage of any received information.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart of a future status report 2300 generationprocess, according to an exemplary embodiment. The process of generationof future status report 2300 may start with the generation 2302 of acomponent failure forecast in which impending sub-system componentfailure may be extrapolated from logged past behavior of sub-systemcomponents. Then the system may generate 2304 a device state of chargeforecast, based on present rate of energy consumption of the devices,configured charging schedule, logged usage and any other suitableparameter. In this step the system may determine if any device willreach an unexpected critically low level of charge at some point in thefuture.

Afterwards, the system may perform 2306 a system configuration analysis,in which the system may evaluate any configuration set by the systemoperator or end-user to determine if it may cause any unwanted systembehavior.

Then, if a problem was found 2308 in any of the first 3 steps, thesystem may generate a suitable alert 2310. If an alert is sent to anend-user or system operator it may be in the form of text messages,emails, voice synthesis telephone communication or any other suitablemeans. In some embodiments, the system provider may be contacted bysimilar means.

Afterwards, the system may assemble future status report 2300 and update2312 the database.

Subsequently, using a suitable TCP/IP connection the reports may be sent2314 to a remote system manager for further evaluation. In someembodiments, the system may receive 2318 feedback from the remote systemmanager to indicate verification and storage of any receivedinformation.

Examples

In example #1 a wireless power transmission system generates a generalstatus report as described in FIG. 20. When checking the state of chargeof the electronic devices within the system, an electronic device withcritically low level of charge and no scheduled charge time isidentified. In this example, the wireless power system is able tocontact the owner of the electronic device via SMS message. The userschedules a charging period for the device and the device is chargedbefore it runs out of energy.

In example #2 a wireless power transmission system generates a generalstatus report as described in FIG. 20. When checking the systemconfiguration a possible unwanted behavior is identified. A device isscheduled to charge for too long without usage, which may causeoverheating of some components. In this example, the power transmittersend a report to the remote management system and the remote managementsystem sends an alert via email to the user.

In example #3 a wireless power service provider utilizes the past statusreports generated by wireless power delivery system over the past 30days to compute bills and charge end-users for their wireless powerconsumption.

In example #4 an end-user's electronic device requests wireless power.The wireless power transmitter utilizes a suitable TCP/IP connection tocommunicate with a remote system manager and authenticate the end-userscredentials. The credentials of the end-user are authenticated and theelectronic device is charged.

C. Status and Usage Embodiment (Graphical User Interface Demo)

Referring further to FIG. 16, system 1600 includes a remote informationservice 1604, or business cloud within Internet Cloud 1606, with aprocessor (server 1622 and remote information service manager 1624) incommunication with remote information service database 1626. Theprocessor is configured to receive system operation data, also hereincalled status and usage data, from the wireless power transmissionsystem 1602. The system operation data can include one or more of powertransmitter status, power transmitter usage, power receiver status, andpower receiver usage.

Remote information service manager 1624 can generate records of thereceived system operation data, and can generate analyses of the systemoperation data. For example, the remote information service manager cangenerate statistics, data tables, charts, maps (e.g. local, regional,national, and international maps), financial analyses, data correlationanalyses, and trend analyses. Remote information services manager 1624can communicate records and analyses of the system operation data toclient devices 1628 for display using a graphical user interface (GUI)1630. Client devices 1628 may include computing devices 1620 that arepaired with power receivers 1610 for charging using pocket-formingenergy in the wireless power transmission system, and may includeworkstations that are not paired with receivers.

Examples of system operation data, or status and usage data, received bythe remote information service 1604 include errors, faults, troublereports, logs of operational events, a command issued by the at leastone power receiver, power receiver and power transmitter hardwareconfigurations, amount of power transmitted per power transmitter andper power receiver, metrics of software and hardware activity, metricsof automatic operation performed by system software, location of the atleast one power receiver, a transmitter communications transition, andpower receiver charge scheduling configuration.

Other examples of status and usage data received by the remoteinformation service 1604 include data pertaining to client devices (suchas computing devices 1620 and non-computing device 1632) that areregistered with remote information service 1604 and that are paired withreceivers 1610. Examples of such status and usage information includebattery level information, receiver antenna voltage, client devicegeographic location data, client device hardware configurations, metricsof client device charging activity, and client device charge scheduling.

Two functions of the wireless power management system are to track andreport the status of transmitters, receivers, and devices within thenetwork, and to track usage of the charging service by various devicesand receivers. The wireless power management system collects andanalyzes the status and usage data, and provides a variety of analyticsto system operators and authorized users.

An exemplary category of status and usage data involves measurement andreporting of energy harvested by a device from a wireless powerreceiver. In an embodiment, energy is harvested from a wireless powerreceiver by conversion of energy conveyed by power transmission signalssuch as RF waves, into electrical energy that is transmitted as directcurrent to a client device. This measurement in the wireless powersystem is analogous to an energy meter. In one embodiment, each receiverhas non-volatile memory, which accumulates data on total energy harvestover time. Using BLE, receivers send response messages to thetransmitter at 2200 times per second. Each time the receiver receives aBLE communication or energy wave from the transmitter, it records thespot power it harvests from the energy pocket and delivers to thedevice. The receiver counts number of power readings per second, andonce a second sums the power transfer readings, providing a measurementof energy. The receiver IC then updates non-volatile memory with thelatest energy measurement.

The wireless power management system continually uploads status andusage data from receivers, from transmitters, and from devices to thecloud-based management system. For example, as applied to energyharvest, the receiver communicates the updated energy harvest value tothe transmitter, once a second. The transmitter accumulates this datafor all receivers that it communicates with. Periodically, thetransmitter uploads accumulated energy information to the cloud-basedmanagement system. By this means, the wireless power management systemcollects information on energy received by all receivers worldwide.

If given receivers move out of communication range from a transmitter,the information accumulated in non-volatile memory is available forlater communication to a transmitter once in range. In addition, theinformation accumulated by the non-volatile memory can be made availableto a user of the given device, e.g. to provide a report of his wirelessenergy harvest over time. Furthermore, enterprises with an informationon energy harvest of all users would have access to this informationcollected from the respective devices.

This measurement of total energy harvest is used in the first instanceto measure how much wireless power is being transferred. This data canbe used to improve transmitter operation, for billing, and for othersystem management functions. For example, information on the energyreceived by assigned receivers from a given transmitter is used asfeedback to the transmitter on the efficiency of power transfer. Thetransmitter may act on this information to adjust the phase and gain ofits antennas in order to maximize the amount of harvested energy.

In the system 2400 of FIG. 24, an operator/user may access status andusage information from graphical user interface (GUI) 2414 using astandard web browser on a computer device 2406, such as a smartphone, adesktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet, a PDA, and/or anothertype of processor-controlled device that may receive, process, and/ortransmit digital data. Computer device 2406 may be configured todownload the graphical user interface (GUI) 2414 from an applicationstore to communicate with a remote information service 2402. GUI 2414 isthe Graphical User Interface between system users or operators and thesoftware within the wireless power transmission system 2400, and usedfor configuration, monitoring, command, control, reporting, and anyother system management functionality. For example, users may employ GUI2414 to view status and usage reports and analyses received from RemoteInformation Service 2402, and to manage the wireless power transmissionsystem 2400.

Remote information service 2402 may comprise a business cloud that isaccessible via through an internet cloud 2408 using web server 2416. Theoperator/user may browse the specific URL or IP address associated toconfiguration GUI web pages provided by web service software 2412operating within remote information service 2402. GUI web pages mayprovide status and usage information stored in database 2410 of theremote information service 2402. Web service software 2412 may useJavaScript or other suitable method for serving web pages, throughembedded web, Apache, Internet Information Services (IIS), or any othersuitable web server application.

The operator/user may obtain a specific URL or IP address associated toremote information service 2402 from some suitable source. Theoperator/user may use computer device 2406 with a suitable operatingsystem such as Microsoft Windows, Apple iOS, Android or Linux, amongothers, to browse configuration GUI web pages 2414 using a standard webbrowser such as Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Safari, amongothers, via an input device such as a touch screen, a mouse, a keyboard,a keypad, and others.

FIGS. 25-32 show exemplary graphical user interface (GUI) embodimentsfor status and usage reporting (graphical user interface demo). Primarydisplay options (as seen at the left side of various display views, forexample the screen shot of FIG. 25) include dashboard, devices,locations, transmitters, accounts, and settings.

FIG. 25 shows an exemplary graphical user interface (GUI) 2500 for usersto administer their account for a wireless power management system. TheGUI 2500 exemplifies the scalable nature of the wireless powermanagement system, as applied to display 2501 of statistics. Local,regional, national, or international organizations can view data andgraphical depictions (e.g. the bubble charts seen here) of powertransfer statistics, such as number of power transmitters, number ofpower receivers, volume of power transmitted, number of devicesrecognized, and number of devices currently charging.

FIG. 26 shows an exemplary GUI 2600 of the system displaying locationand tracking within a home, office, or other facility. The user canselect a room or other area within the facility, such as living room,and view status and usage metrics for transmitters (e.g. how manydevices are currently being charged) and devices (charging status foreach device). Data on the cloud-based management system can be viewed,as seen here, using a web portal.

FIG. 27 shows an exemplary GUI 2700 of the system displaying varioustypes of status and usage data that is compiled by the managementsystem, and made available to users, through the GUI 2700, to help themanalyze and manage their use of the wireless power service. The GUI 2700show a bar chart 2701 of power received by a user's devices in each ofthe last five days. FIG. 28 shows an exemplary GUI 2800 of the systemdisplaying recent usage history, i.e. a record of where and when each ofa user's devices has received power, total power received and durationof power transfer.

Another format of status and usage reporting uses the form factor forPDAs and other mobile devices. FIGS. 29 and 30 show two views of amobile phone app. These status and usage data represent a subset of thedata available on using a web browser on a workstation, but are tailoredto the most important status and usage categories for mobile deviceusers. The mobile app GUI 2900 of FIG. 29 shows the charging status andcharge strength of a mobile phone. The mobile app GUI 2900 of FIG. 30provides another example of location information, a map of aneighborhood with names and locations of businesses providing thewireless charging service.

FIG. 31 shows an example of an Accounts GUI 3100, showing status andusage information for all transmitters that are registered to theaccount. This accounts screen permits an authorized user to register anew transmitter to the account. Other accounts screens permit users toregister receivers and devices newly included in the management system,and to view status and usage data for such receivers and devices.

FIG. 32, with Organizations GUI 3200, illustrates how organizations canremotely monitor their power transfer activities at other geographiclocations. Here an organization has a headquarters in Boise Id. withprimary, secondary, and satellite locations in other parts of the U.S.,as displayed at 3201. A representative of the organization can selectany of these locations using this screen, and monitor wireless powerstatus and usage analytics at the selected location.

While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed, other aspectsand embodiments are contemplated. The various aspects and embodimentsdisclosed are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to belimiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by thefollowing claims.

The foregoing method descriptions and the interface configuration areprovided merely as illustrative examples and are not intended to requireor imply that the steps of the various embodiments must be performed inthe order presented. As will be appreciated by one of skill in the artthe steps in the foregoing embodiments may be performed in any order.Words such as “then,” “next,” etc. are not intended to limit the orderof the steps; these words are simply used to guide the reader throughthe description of the methods. Although process flow diagrams maydescribe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operationscan be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order ofthe operations may be re-arranged. A process may correspond to a method,a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a processcorresponds to a function, its termination may correspond to a return ofthe function to the calling function or the main function.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, andalgorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosedhere may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, orcombinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability ofhardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules,circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms oftheir functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented ashardware or software depends upon the particular application and designconstraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans mayimplement the described functionality in varying ways for eachparticular application, but such implementation decisions should not beinterpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the presentinvention.

Embodiments implemented in computer software may be implemented insoftware, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware descriptionlanguages, or any combination thereof. A code segment ormachine-executable instructions may represent a procedure, a function, asubprogram, a program, a routine, a subroutine, a module, a softwarepackage, a class, or any combination of instructions, data structures,or program statements. A code segment may be coupled to another codesegment or a hardware circuit by passing and/or receiving information,data, arguments, parameters, or memory contents. Information, arguments,parameters, data, etc. may be passed, forwarded, or transmitted via anysuitable means including memory sharing, message passing, token passing,network transmission, etc.

The actual software code or specialized control hardware used toimplement these systems and methods is not limiting of the invention.Thus, the operation and behavior of the systems and methods weredescribed without reference to the specific software code beingunderstood that software and control hardware can be designed toimplement the systems and methods based on the description here.

When implemented in software, the functions may be stored as one or moreinstructions or code on a non-transitory computer-readable orprocessor-readable storage medium. The steps of a method or algorithmdisclosed here may be embodied in a processor-executable software modulewhich may reside on a computer-readable or processor-readable storagemedium. A non-transitory computer-readable or processor-readable mediaincludes both computer storage media and tangible storage media thatfacilitate transfer of a computer program from one place to another. Anon-transitory processor-readable storage media may be any availablemedia that may be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and notlimitation, such non-transitory processor-readable media may compriseRAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic diskstorage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other tangible storagemedium that may be used to store desired program code in the form ofinstructions or data structures and that may be accessed by a computeror processor. Disk and disc, as used here, include compact disc (CD),laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, andBlu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, whilediscs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the aboveshould also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.Additionally, the operations of a method or algorithm may reside as oneor any combination or set of codes and/or instructions on anon-transitory processor-readable medium and/or computer-readablemedium, which may be incorporated into a computer program product.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of using a remote server to manage awireless power transmission system, the method comprising: at a remoteserver that is in communication with a plurality of power transmissionmanagers, a first power transmission manager of the plurality of powertransmission managers configured to control a first wireless powertransmitter and a second power transmission manager of the plurality ofpower transmission managers configured to control a second wirelesspower transmitter: receiving, from the first power transmission manager,information identifying a first electronic device that is associatedwith a first receiver, wherein the first electronic device is locatedcloser to the first wireless power transmitter than to the secondwireless power transmitter and the first electronic device has requestedwireless power from the first wireless power transmitter; receiving,from the second power transmission manager, a status report thatincludes information identifying a current or forecasted charge levelfor a second electronic device associated with a second receiver,wherein the second electronic device is located closer to the secondwireless power transmitter than to the first wireless power transmitter;in response to receiving the information identifying the firstelectronic device: determining, based at least in part on theinformation identifying the first electronic device, whether the firstelectronic device is authorized to receive power from the first wirelesspower transmitter; and in accordance with a determination that the firstelectronic device is authorized to receive power from the first wirelesspower transmitter, transmitting instructions to the first wireless powertransmission manager to cause the first wireless power transmitter totransmit power waves that constructively interfere proximate to thefirst electronic device; in response to receiving the status report:determining whether the information identifying the current orforecasted charge level indicates that the second electronic devicerequires charging; and in accordance with a determination that theinformation identifying the current or forecasted charge level indicatesthat the second electronic device requires charging, sending, to a userassociated with the second electronic device, an alert (i) indicatingthat the second electronic device requires charging and (ii) promptingthe user to request wireless power.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereindetermining that the second electronic device requires charging includesdetermining that no charging time is scheduled by the wireless powertransmission system for the second electronic device.
 3. The method ofclaim 2, wherein determining that the second electronic device requirescharging includes determining that the second electronic device has lessthan a minimum charge level remaining.
 4. The method of claim 1, whereinthe forecasted charge level of the second electronic device isdetermined based at least in part on a present rate of energyconsumption at the second electronic device.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein the status report further includes information identifying afailure of a component of the second wireless power transmitter, and themethod further comprises: in response to receiving the status reportthat includes information identifying the failure of the component ofthe second wireless power transmitter, reporting the failure to anoperator of the wireless power transmission system.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein: the power waves are radio frequency waves, and theinstructions that are transmitted to the first wireless powertransmission manager include instructions that cause respective antennaelements of the first wireless power transmitter to transmit the radiofrequency waves at respective angles so that the radio frequency wavesconstructively interfere proximate to the first electronic device. 7.The method of claim 1, wherein respective locations of the first andsecond electronic devices relative to the first and second wirelesspower transmitters are determined based at least in part on respectivesignal strength levels for respective communication signals transmittedby the first and second electronic devices as detected by the first andsecond wireless power transmitter managers.
 8. A system for using aremote server to manage a wireless power transmission system, the systemcomprising: a remote server that is in communication with a plurality ofpower transmission managers, a first power transmission manager of theplurality of power transmission managers configured to control a firstwireless power transmitter and a second power transmission manager ofthe plurality of power transmission managers configured to control asecond wireless power transmitter, where the remote server is configuredto: receive, from the first power transmission manager, informationidentifying a first electronic device that is associated with a firstreceiver, wherein the first electronic device is located closer to thefirst wireless power transmitter than to the second wireless powertransmitter and the first electronic device has requested wireless powerfrom the first wireless power transmitter; receive, from the secondpower transmission manager, a status report that includes informationidentifying a current or forecasted charge level for a second electronicdevice associated with a second receiver, wherein the second electronicdevice is located closer to the second wireless power transmitter thanto the first wireless power transmitter; in response to receiving theinformation identifying the first electronic device: determine, based atleast in part on the information identifying the first electronicdevice, whether the first electronic device is authorized to receivepower from the first wireless power transmitter; and in accordance witha determination that the first electronic device is authorized toreceive power from the first wireless power transmitter, transmitinstructions to the first wireless power transmission manager to causethe first wireless power transmitter to transmit power waves thatconstructively interfere proximate to the first electronic device; inresponse to receiving the status report: determine whether theinformation identifying the current or forecasted charge level indicatesthat the second electronic device requires charging; and in accordancewith a determination that the information identifying the current orforecasted charge level indicates that the second electronic devicerequires charging, send, to a user associated with the second electronicdevice, an alert (i) indicating that the second electronic devicerequires charging and (ii) prompting the user to request wireless power.9. The system of claim 8, wherein determining that the second electronicdevice requires charging includes determining that no charging time isscheduled by the wireless power transmission system for the secondelectronic device.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining thatthe second electronic device requires charging includes determining thatthe second electronic device has less than a minimum charge levelremaining.
 11. The method of claim 8, wherein the forecasted chargelevel of the second electronic device is determined based at least inpart on a present rate of energy consumption at the second electronicdevice.
 12. The method of claim 8, wherein the status report furtherincludes information identifying a failure of a component of the secondwireless power transmitter, and the remote server is further configuredto: in response to receiving the status report that includes informationidentifying the failure of the component of the second wireless powertransmitter, report the failure to an operator of the wireless powertransmission system.
 13. The method of claim 8, wherein: the power wavesare radio frequency waves, and the instructions that are transmitted tothe first wireless power transmission manager include instructions thatcause respective antenna elements of the first wireless powertransmitter to transmit the radio frequency waves at respective anglesso that the radio frequency waves constructively interfere proximate tothe first electronic device.
 14. The method of claim 8, whereinrespective locations of the first and second electronic devices relativeto the first and second wireless power transmitters are determined basedat least in part on respective signal strength levels for respectivecommunication signals transmitted by the first and second electronicdevices as detected by the first and second wireless power transmittermanagers.
 15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium thatincludes executable instructions that, when executed by a remote serverthat is in communication with a plurality of power transmissionmanagers, a first power transmission manager of the plurality of powertransmission managers configured to control a first wireless powertransmitter and a second power transmission manager of the plurality ofpower transmission managers configured to control a second wirelesspower transmitter, cause the remote server to: receive, from the firstpower transmission manager, information identifying a first electronicdevice that is associated with a first receiver, wherein the firstelectronic device is located closer to the first wireless powertransmitter than to the second wireless power transmitter and the firstelectronic device has requested wireless power from the first wirelesspower transmitter; receive, from the second power transmission manager,a status report that includes information identifying a current orforecasted charge level for a second electronic device associated with asecond receiver, wherein the second electronic device is located closerto the second wireless power transmitter than to the first wirelesspower transmitter; in response to receiving the information identifyingthe first electronic device: determine, based at least in part on theinformation identifying the first electronic device, whether the firstelectronic device is authorized to receive power from the first wirelesspower transmitter; and in accordance with a determination that the firstelectronic device is authorized to receive power from the first wirelesspower transmitter, transmit instructions to the first wireless powertransmission manager to cause the first wireless power transmitter totransmit power waves that constructively interfere proximate to thefirst electronic device; in response to receiving the status report:determine whether the information identifying the current or forecastedcharge level indicates that the second electronic device requirescharging; and in accordance with a determination that the informationidentifying the current or forecasted charge level indicates that thesecond electronic device requires charging, send, to a user associatedwith the second electronic device, an alert (i) indicating that thesecond electronic device requires charging and (ii) prompting the userto request wireless power.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium of claim 15, wherein determining that the secondelectronic device requires charging includes determining that nocharging time is scheduled by the wireless power transmission system forthe second electronic device.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium of claim 16, wherein determining that the secondelectronic device requires charging includes determining that the secondelectronic device has less than a minimum charge level remaining. 18.The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, whereinthe forecasted charge level of the second electronic device isdetermined based at least in part on a present rate of energyconsumption at the second electronic device.
 19. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the status reportfurther includes information identifying a failure of a component of thesecond wireless power transmitter, and the executable instructionsinclude executable instructions that cause the remote server to: inresponse to receiving the status report that includes informationidentifying the failure of the component of the second wireless powertransmitter, report the failure to an operator of the wireless powertransmission system.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of claim 15, wherein: the power waves are radio frequency waves,and the instructions that are transmitted to the first wireless powertransmission manager include instructions that cause respective antennaelements of the first wireless power transmitter to transmit the radiofrequency waves at respective angles so that the radio frequency wavesconstructively interfere proximate to the first electronic device. 21.The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, whereinrespective locations of the first and second electronic devices relativeto the first and second wireless power transmitters are determined basedat least in part on respective signal strength levels for respectivecommunication signals transmitted by the first and second electronicdevices as detected by the first and second wireless power transmittermanagers.